Can't Sleep: Super-Super Short Update

My next final exam is in six hours and I can't get a wink because I had too much soda and caffeine. Oh well. I should be ok so long as I make it to the classroom on time.

Anywho, I know this year has been sorely lacking in content, and I cannot apologize enough for it. Being a senior in college has put me on edge, especially when I can't tell anyone what the hell I'm doing anymore. When I'm not going mad from plans, rejected internship applications, and disappointed parents, I've been consuming media... in small pieces. In fact a rant should be coming up soon.

A pity my consoles have been packed away so that pushed back some of my plans, but I'll keep working on drafts and see what I can pump out when I'm in the mood. (Long-time readers know which review I've been neglecting.) I'll try harder, as writing is one of the few things I know I can do well and advertise to a potential employer... if they somehow find this blog and not go crazy from my insanity.


So yeah, this is a short update I wanted to pump out. Something new will come, I can promise you that for sure. I've been typing away all night in-between reluctant bursts of studying for the last few days and had a six hour long trip in my deep searching for some book I had the crazy idea of buying out of the blue.

...
Hey, hold on.

...Wait a damned minute is that...?

O_______o

WHELP, NOW THAT'S NOT REALLY DAMN DISTRACTING AT ALL.

Good night. I'm done. My brain and the caffeinated soda have played one too many stupid pranks on me for today.


...
Although sometimes I hate how oblivious and slow my brain can be.

Stupid tall dark-haired men and their deep voices and sexy accents confusing and flustering my asexual ovaries... >.<

August 2015 Update: WHELP THEN...

... This was an unproductive summer. Not school-wise at least. My research is still chugging along, despite a few snags here and there from the internet community and myself. The usual ups and downs of life always happen. I'm still being vague about my MegaTen research project because I need to be 100% sure I will release/publish the information. If I'm ever going into research someday beyond college, I need to understand the ins-and-outs before diving head-first into an empty swimming pool. But I can assure the two or three people who know and are curious about it that it is still being worked on.

Fun fact: I am one of the seemingly few people who
hates and does not rely on coffee to live.

April 2015 Update: Still Not Dead, But Worried and Tired

D-Don't get me st-started... *sniffle*

Life has a wonderful way of throwing a billion priorities at you, and you're left confused in the middle of a deep valley surrounded by mountains. Yes, due to fulfilling college group requirements, attending a few daunting classes, planning for summer, analyzing my research, and prepping for possible conferences, I ignored Rants From a Fangirl for a few months. Honestly, I've been feeling more tired than usual. Before Spring Break, I was so mentally fatigued that I often slept in for twelve hours on weekends and took naps in the middle of the week, only to wake up more unhappy and frustrated with myself.

I have been feeling better lately though. Several internship opportunities I signed up for have all turned me down, but I've taken the rejection a lot easier than I had earlier this semester. I'm still at a point in my MegaTen research that I can't openly say how things are going, but I'm still working on it for school. (Just the other day, in fact, I stayed up until 2am working on it.) If I can't get anything else right, I hope my project works out well enough for my undergraduate record to look promising.

I know that this blog is supposed to not focus on my personal life, so I'll now talk about all the nerdy shit I've been up to when I should have been writing for my blog!

Aches and Pains: Thanksgiving 2014 Update

Papers, papers, papers, binders, papers, papers, all-nighters, papers, presentations, journals, binders, powerpoints, carpal tunnel in both wrists, dead iPod every other day, papers, essays and more papers and papers. I hardly slipped online to edit posts because of all the last-minute semester scrambling, stressing, and hair-pulling. Analyzing my research data is time-consuming; it's not easy going through over 700 responses, especially the ones who stuck around for my survey and filled in the open-ended questions. I'll be needing a ton of caffeine-loaded soda to get all my stuff done. But the light from my laptop is starting to strain my eyes, and sitting is making my bum sore.

In other news, I'll be relaxing for Thanksgiving and play some Persona 4 Ultimax. I'm convinced Persona Q won't arrive until next week, much to my profound chagrin. Apparently my preorder will fall on my doorstep this week, so I'll cry if that doesn't happen. When I'm sick of MegaTen-related stuff (which might not happen b/c Ultimax and hopefully Q), I might play around with Mass Effect 3 to take some more last-second notes I may have forgotten about. Any other game I play will be a luxury.

Once winter break happens, I'll try to pump out a few posts to wrap up the year. I haven't done a music-related post in a while...

Eh... why the hell not? I haven't had the chance to talk about them anyway. Might have to pick up This Is War too for more context...

Anywho, everyone have a good week. Enjoy whatever you do to relax and be happy for a few days. If you don't celebrate Thanksgiving, I still wish you a healthy sanity. We all need it to function, y'know.

And may the people of Ferguson have peace. They need all the positive energy they can get so these tragedies are finally taken seriously and stopped for good.

Seriously, this is getting beyond obscene and lands dead in the territory of inexcusable. Whether you have a badge or not, whether you're an adult or kid, stop shooting everyone, America. You're making our whole country, even the sensible and responsible gun owners and collectors, look like incompetent trigger-happy vigilantes belonging perfectly in the twisted, despicable worlds of The Walking Dead or The Last of Us. PLEASE STOP SOLVING CONFUSING CONFRONTATIONS WITH PUTTING A BULLET IN SOMEONE. There is ALWAYS a third option. ALWAYS.

Halloween 2014 Update

Hiya, guys! The worst month I've ever lived through is finally over. All I have is one exam today and I am free from the clutches of stress... for the most part.

Even though it's Halloween, I'm not really going to dress up today. Too much stuff going on and I'd probably prefer spending the evening sleeping or writing. Feels like I hardly get any sleep anymore... and I want to keep hacking at my fanfic.

I wanted to let you guys know that I'm working on a few posts that I want to get out as soon as possible. One is greatly overdue and another is something that I'm in the mood to rant about. Hopefully I can pump out something soon, as I'm tired of having chronic writer's block over silly things. One of the things I'm working on would theoretically recommend me to go home and test out a few things; then I realized I played the game so many times that there is no reason for me to hyper analyze it and take too many excessively pointless notes.

Speaking of games, earlier this month (on that one awful day in fact) I finally beat Persona 2 Innocent Sin. I'm halfway through the most overrated MegaTen series! It's likely I might have to play the game over again or watch a walkthrough before I can judge it properly. I will say, however, that the gameplay is so obnoxious and tedious I really see why the fanbase is divided the way it is. In spite of my complaints about a ton if things, the characters and story were far better than - ... yeah, I'm not bothering to finish that. You guys know me too well by this point.

Someday I'll finish Eternal Punishment, but for now, I might move onto Soul Hackers. I haven't felt so good about a game so quickly in a really long time. If it keeps up, it may end up being one of my favorites.

Anywho, I hope you guys enjoy trick-or-treating or throwing parties or stealing candy from kids b/c no one has money for anything anymore. Be sure to enjoy some scary movies too. Hmm... I might want to watch Carrie again...

Happy Halloween!

Midterms, 'Silent Hills', and Research, "Oh my!": October 2014 Update

Maybe a cat will help, even if he/she isn't my own.

This is probably the most stressful semester I have ever had. Welcome to the adult world, Fangirl. It's only going to get busier and more hectic and more insane. Such is the beauty of life.

Anywho, hello and hiya, readers! If I somehow do not have carpal tunnel or a hunched back by the time I'm 30, it'll be a miracle. It'd be oddly amusing to finally relate to the hero of my favorite Disney movie ever, but I prefer not getting assaulted by a sea of flying tomatoes. Not until I get it on Blu-ray and set it next to my copies of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, The Hobbit, season 6 of House, Sucker Punch, and Daybreakers. One must be picky when investing in Blu-ray, y'know. That stuff is still pretty expensive for a college student. Plus, I gotta make my Playstation 3 live as long as my baby Gamecube.

Seriously though, I'm alright. Doing what I can, from digressive rants to snarky comments, to maintain sanity and stress so my brain doesn't implode. Midterms, paperwork, scheduling, meetings, fundraising, mentoring, and studying. And occasionally tweeting.

But to be in the spirit of the month, I guess I should mention that I watched people playing P.T. the other day. I'm still not getting a PS4 for a LONG time. But that Silent Hills playable trailer was really damn creepy, disturbing, and messed up (i.e. "I said look behind you!"). 

Back to the Books... Again: September 2014 Update

Thankfully the first two weeks of classes ended unceremoniously. The workload is gonna be heavy though because I picked up a research methods class. Hopefully that skill will help me get a job somewhere. But then again, no one seems to know what will guarantee you getting a job anymore, which is disheartening.

That's pretty much me atm.

The incident from the end of the summer is in the past. Simply put, it made me realize how much I underestimate my talent in critical observation of others. It's good that I don't trust some people very easily, and it's something I got to stick with.

In lighter news, I haven't changed all that much. My blog has been leaning heavily towards video games for two years now, and I'm sure I have scared people off. There may be some of you who stick around since I ramble a lot about nerdy stuff. I talk about stuff that makes me happy at this point in my life and I hope some people can at least get a laugh or two at my being opinionated. So MegaTen might still be on my blog for a while, at least until I run into something else I want to talk about. Fangirl will still be a fangirl.

Meanwhile, my rooming arrangement is different this year and I got more posters and crap laying around. And, 对不起, crappy image quality is crappy. :P

I managed to plow through the majority of the show this summer. Sadly I stopped on the episode of all episodes, codenamed "The Purple Wedding", and I was never happier in my life. (Minus the HIM concert four years ago. So I lied.) Of course I will go back into the show and finish season three, since I'm hooked. Not as much as my mom though, who devoured the books and the episodes VERY quickly and is still detoxing. Season four can't come soon enough for her.

I did not buy A Link Between Worlds, but I have played a demo. Once I get money again, it might be in my library collection. Supposedly it's good, but my rant on Nintendo from a while back still weighs heavily on my mind.

But How to Train Your Dragon 2? I started to have faith in children's films again when the first film came out. Now it's really damn strong thanks to this. Damn it, if I ever have children, boys or girls, I'll show them these movies along with The Hunchback of Notre Dame.

So many hedgehogs... I got the two in the middle for a really cheap price on sale around Christmas. They were lonely and I couldn't help but take them home. Then I realized I had two scarves I never use much, slipped them on the duo and named them Pollux and Castor. Heh, heh, heh. To make it better, Pollux's left ear sits funny as does Castor's right ear. Heh, heh.

Ok, I'm done. Don't smack me. XD

What kind of young adult would I be without a messy desk? Moonlight, Soul Hackers, The Sims 3, HIM, my PS Vita, and a Zelda lanyard. Sometimes I question how feminine I am.

And I already posted this on Twitter a while back, but I took a pic of my copy of Quantum Devil Saga. Yes, I do exist in the real world.

Funnily enough, I'm taking a general history class on Asian Civilizations pre-1500 CE and we briefly touched on Hinduism. Let's say that a billion lightbulbs flashed in my mind as I was hearing so many terms that I recognize from playing Digital Devil Saga and just MegaTen in general (like atma, samsara, soma, etc). It's a beautiful feeling to know how video games can still enrich one's life beyond simple entertainmant.

Anyway, I'm back to studying, writing, and stuff. My fanfic is about 75% done at this point, but I might have to do another draft to organize stuff better. Thank god I'm not an author, because I think I understand a little bit why George R.R. Martin takes forever on A Song of Ice and Fire.

Help.

"PSA From a Fangirl" Has Been Upgraded

I'm on Twitter as of today. Yep. I'm a terrible hypocrite, I know.

Well this is just something I want to test out for a while, like I did with Facebook before the site and my "friends" harassed me with constant images, locations, and info I could not care about. So now I'm just using Twitter to follow the sites and people I like online. Since Rants From a Fangirl is listed as my website, I'm still going by Melanie Light (or Fangirl) as my handle. If I post something new here, I might post a link there in case I get enough followers. Considering how few I have here, I doubt it.

Anywho, this pretty much means my "PSA From a Fangirl" section here will be done. I won't have much reason to make minor updates on my state of being when I'm not vomiting nonsensical articles. That being said, I'll still probably be snarky and opinionated as ever. It gives me slightly more ground to cover without needing to jump on the Youtube audio and video medium. And in case something big comes up, like a protest against online surveillance or the revival of SOPA-related laws, it might be easier to participate that way.

Otherwise, this blog is still my baby. It's still small, but I'm keeping at it. Besides, I still have Mass Effect 3 and it's awful controversy to talk about. Then some guys from DDS-Net suggested I tackle Shin Megami Tensei IV. I'm thinking about other stuff too, especially since a young adult novel I actually liked may have been butchered horrendously thanks to the Hollywood machine. And since I'm a fan of the source material, I need to bring my battle armor and face the beast.

There is so much wrong with this, I don't know where to begin.


Meanwhile, when I'm not wanting to harm my computer, I realize that the semester is 33% over already and I'm confused out of my mind. Time doesn't seem to exist or make sense anymore. I still haven't adjusted to that yet... But for now, I need to get through this busy week. Then I'll be homebound. I will attack my adorable cats, bug my family, and squeeze in some time with my PS3. Once I get more ideas on what I can talk about, new material will come out.

But man, Vampire Academy... those books were actually good and then this movie happened... *sobs*

Pre-Thanksgiving Update

我累。我很累。我的手痛了。(1)

...

A nostalgic train ride with Linkin Park, an eleven-slided powerpoint presentation on a cultural world problem, a nine paged essay on an environmental problem close to home, AND a ten page essay on how terrorism affects a country's GDP.

...

Worst... procrastinating... EVER.

...

对不起，我累。我需要去睡觉。(2)

...

I miss my big bed...

~~~~~Notes:~~~~~

(1) - I am tired. I am very tired. My hand hurts.

(2) - I'm sorry, I'm tired. I'm going to bed.

February 2013 Update

Finally! I completed the first review on Mass Effect! Thank you to the one or two people who patiently waited for them to come out. It took several months to gather ideas and flesh them out. Hopefully ME2 and ME3 will not take as long to push out.

My Singles Awareness Day was as great as usual. I made sure to play as much HIM as possible. Even after four years, I still love 'em. Currently, I'm still saving my pennies for Tears On Tape; April 30 is too damn far away... T-T

College life is getting easier to adapt to... kind of. The work itself can be annoying at times, but it's everything else that is difficult. Because of meeting certain required academic requirements, there are a few programs I am a part of that either lift some financial burden or offer academic challenges. The price? Community service. Networking. Staying on top of things. Knowing who's who, and where they can be found.

Sometimes I have been so absorbed with staying on top of everything that this poor blog sits un-updated. Every now and then I wonder if the quality of my posts are suffering along with the quantity. Regardless, I still try my darnedest to keep this thing alive. It's almost been three years and sometimes I still feel like I only talk to myself. In a way that helped me to keep this thing going. Sure, I can keep track of how often people visit my blog, but I know that the world at large does not care about what I have to say. No one pressures me to meet a deadline, to put something out or risk losing money. I do this because I want to.

"...Really, Fangirl?" some might say, "Why do you keep bringing that up in every single update you make? You're a broken record by this point!"

Fair enough. But sometimes I'm too blunt for my own good. I'm not a blogger who focuses on DYI projects, I don't have a central theme or series of topics to pump out, and I'm not a professional reviewer. I'm just a person who just says whatever comes to her mind [within reason].

When people see "Fangirl"... some might think I'm like this. :/
HAHAHAHA... wrong.

I started off doing nothing but immature rants. Slowly, I did reviews of music and movies. Sometimes I would find a video or funny image and post it for the laughs. Now I'm going on about video games. Whatever I've done, they were nothing but long-winded, immature ramblings that a handful of people happened to like. Those few people keep coming back for some odd reason.

So to drive the point home for the billionth time... thanks to everyone who keeps coming back. And thanks to that one-time visitor who found me too ridiculous to remember. That's fine. In many ways, this blog is for me, and only me. Still, I can't help but smile when I see that I have a few followers, and several viewers from across the globe.



Okay, enough of this cheese. Let's move on.

What have I been doing in my free time? ... ... ... THIS.

I would like to thank Voltech, a far better blogger and writer than I, for making my life a living hell thanks to recommending THIS.

Imagine all the overwhelmingly tear-enducing scenes from Titanic, The Notebook, and Clannad jumbled up together... and on STEROIDS.

... Crap... my PS3 is still at home... Now I want a PSVita... *sniff* damn you, Atlus....
TT-TT

Happy 2013!!: An Update

Lo and behold, everyone was wrong about December 21, 2012. Not only was 2012 one of the stupidest movies ever made, but the Mayan calendar technically sees the day as the end of a time period and the beginning of a new one. Kind of like a "new "year", I guess. Nothing happened. I bet at 16:00 Eastern Time, the Japanese were either asleep or laughing at our ludicrous claims of "ZOMFG, doomsday!!!!!!"

And I lived to see me birthday. And laughed. Very loudly.

I was busy plowing through repetitive missions
with the Mako while y'all caused a ruckus at 12 am.

Anywho, Happy New Year to the few individuals who read my blog!

2012 was a pain in the neck. I would get caught up in college life, video games, music, etc. and forget to update. This may be because I don't like treating this as a "here's what I'm doing today" sort of blog. I've had diaries in the past, but I'd barely use up ten pages. Writing down every single mundane thing I do or think about never had much appeal to me. Sure, there has been a few posts when I would briefly talk about what I've been up to, but I only want to write posts when I feel like it. As a result, I have gone on for weeks without any content.

We'll see how 2013 goes. I make resolutions and act when I need to, not when people cheer because the clock struck 0:00 on the first day of 2013. Ah, cynicism! ^_^

Before I disappear again, let me say a few more things.

Thanks for the those who voted in my small poll. I wanted to get a sense on how to even talk about Mass Effect. Since I quickly became a fervent fan over the summer [and came up frequently in my posts] it seemed inevitable that I would have a desire to ramble on talk about it. Because so much could be said, I wanted an idea on how willing some of you would be when you read the posts. Currently three drafts have been composed over the past few months: two of which still need extensive editing before being ready to be put out.

My dad gave me Mass Effect Trilogy for Christmas, so now I have extra copies of 2 and 3 as well as a physical copy of the first game. Until I played through it a few times, it will be the first post on the series as a whole. In other words, this whole thing might take a really long time. Once Spring semester starts, I will not have access to my PS3 and the game will be put on hold. For now, I'm trying to play it as much as possible to get a feel for it. Plus I have heard about how frustrating the glitches can be. The PS3 version of Mass Effect seems to have all new problems that have ruined the experience (i.e. game files not being transferable to Mass Effect 2, audio issues, mini game issues, etc.)

First impressions?

After spending about 40 hours on the game and completing one of my two save files... It's a whole different kind of difficult. Frustrating at times, but it was definitely worth it. Thankfully my experience was only ruined by problems that most likely existed with the original XBox 360 version. No game-breaking crashes, no mini-game problems. Heck, I'm only happy I could transfer my file into Mass Effect 2 without any penalty. Now I can experience everything from start to finish, the right way.

Enough about video games though.

The other week I had the chance to see The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey in 3D. Hearing mostly negative things about it from critics - hmph... figures - I got a bit worried. Diehard Tolkien fans, however, seemed a bit less angry about the film. (Can't say about the 3D gimmick though...) As much as I loved film versions of The Lord of the Rings, I'm far from being a Tolkien fan. He put so much content and love in Middle Earth that I'd have to dedicate my whole life to his fiction. I'd be open-minded about the lore, but it's too overwhelming to dive into. At least what little I have seen (and read) the material is not too hard to swallow.

Anywho.

The Hobbit was probably one of the only books I ever enjoyed reading for school. Even then, the extremely particular and detailed notes and tests we had to take nearly killed the experience. So I reread it in my free time once or twice. So, yeah, I was damn happy to see a film adaptation.

Looks like I'll have to review it sometime soon. I could easily rant on about it without trouble. I still have ideas, people, I just need the motivation to write sometimes.

Well, Happy New Year everyone!

Where the Heck Were You, Fangirl?

Long time, no update! :)

I'm currently studying for my midterm exams, but I have some time for this. :)
So... what have I been up to?

Another Piece of Art Finished

Right before I went off to college, I had my last weekend art lesson, which I had attended for nearly seven years. Typically I work on a big project and it takes many months to finish. My last piece was extremely detailed, and a bit annoying.

When I visited home, my mom had it framed and it looks amazing. I forgot my camera, and all I had were photos of it I took right after my last lesson.

Acrylic paint. I tried watercolor at first, but it ended in failure. Ever since I was a young kid, I always hated watercolor painting. Thankfully after the change, I was able to complete this. :)

Living on my Own...

I have settled in reletively fine. Even though I never had siblings, my roommate and I get along pretty well. We snark, bicker, joke around, all that fun stuff.

The puppy hates waking up, shit happens, and the bed is unmade.
A perfect morning sight! 

Our room is evenly separated so we each have our own side. Sadly, though, things can get... messy. My side is presentable enough, but sometimes its hard to enter the room sometimes, you know? She has a lot more things than I do and has a hard time finding a place to put everything. She tries to not let it get too out of control, so I don't let it bug me.

Food on the other hand... my roommate and I keep getting so much food because some people think we are starving and have no access to nutrition. And apparently some think I'm losing weight... so they give me Oreos. =_='

The only place where I can be sloppy.

Socially, I'm doing a lot better than I expected. No wonder people hate high school so much, college is so much better! I get along with a good number of the girls on my floor pretty well. I have several people to hang out with in case person A or B is in a meeting or is studying. While I've been pretty low-key with certain activities, I'm trying to stabilize everything that is manditory to my staying in the institution. Socialization always came second or third, and I keep it that way.

Nearly everyone I know loves this poster. It's got so much charm to it! 

"If you've got human chorionic gonadotropin in your system, produced by the newly forming placenta - well, by golly, you're knocked up!"

Still Obsessed with That Overrated Sci-Fi Drama?

ABSOLUTELY.

When I went home a few weeks ago, I quickly bought the Leviathan downloadable content and immediately played it. I was tired of waiting for it and I was completely satisfied. Since then, I have been rereading the Mass Effect wiki site's articles and discussion pages. Even TvTropes is an addicting wonderland, and it has a TON of ME notes and topics to read for HOURS.

These daily activities have made my PS3 withdrawal more unbearable.

Meanwhile, Mass Effect 2's soundtrack has been purchased from iTunes to my library recently, and I had ME3's free with the collector's edition of the game. Now, I'm thinking of buying an N7 sweatshirt from BioWare's website. Better get to it.

me wantz badly... $_@

You know how girls are obsessive with things like shoes or make-up and want a massive collection? That's me with scarves and sweatshirts (I have a HIM sweatshirt that's near the end of its life and a scarf.) You can never run out and they keep you warm. ^_^

Also... I am so psyched for the Mass Effect Trilogy. I can play ME1 on my PS3!! No need to tweak my computer!! XD

Pandora Has Yet Another Box

I made a separate Pandora account not too long ago, so I can experiment with different stations. You can only have about 100 stations, and my old account has somewhere between 50 and 60. As away for me to start from scratch, I've been trying out fun., a-ha, and a 90's pop station. Though "Some Nights" is an awesome song, fun. is just a "meh" band. Maybe it's because they have some association with Paramore, a band I happen to despise.

After being stuck with a bunch of different people for nearly two months, I'm starting to go back to things I enjoyed as a kid. Heck, we all pretty much feel like kids. My roommate was sick the other day and watched shows on the Disney Channel and The Lizzy McGuire Movie. Some of us bought stuffed animals, hoola-hoops, even *NYNSC CDs. Heck, I found a few people who actually liked Hillary Duff when they were younger! (This one admits to still liking her music... >.<)

There's one thing I have learned while here, this world is a lot smaller than I thought. o_O


Now, though, I have to go back to studying for my midterm exams. It's not fun. :/
But I am still alive, guys. I'm still alive... :)

September 2012 Update - College!

I just finished up my first week of classes as I sit on a bed that is not my own. Things have been going well so far. For the first time in months I have some kind of schedule - and life - with as few video games as possible. It was great for me to play my PS3 to death. Too bad I have to wait a long while for Assassin's Creed 3...

I'm adapting fairly well, making new friends, and enjoying my classes. (Just waiting for that one test to show how hard college can be...) Only the extremely social, no privacy aspect is what I'm not enjoying much. Icebreakers have always been the bane of my existence. The four days of orientation had nothing but such small talk and I was really to explode. Thankfully, my roommate and I get along pretty well.

Nearly everyone is gone this weekend so I had the peace and quiet to finally make a small update. :)

At this rate, I plan to review music like I did during my early days. There are some drafts that need editing and finishing, and I brushed some dust off my Pandora account. I'm planning on finding some new material.

In the meantime, I'm waiting hopefully for October 29th and early 2013. XX - Two Decades of Love Metal and Tears on Tape are coming! Even Bentley Jones has something coming out October 24th! *Fangirl squee* ^////^