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Quick Prose-ACK CAFKL Update: Thank you to everyone who came and bought our books! They’re all sold out. :) Chapters 2 will be published by end of this week, I still need to clean some bits out. Thank you very much for your support!

And as a tiny bonus, here’s a quick ficlet I did for the 15-Minute Ficlet challenge on Dreamwidth:

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Original entry as appearing at Ink to Screen.

Here, cute pic before you click on wall of text below

So, testing this for the first time. I kind of regret not signing up for 750words.com before this. Should have done it a long time ago, but I thought that daily word counts were not a thing that I could do. Shows what I know, huh? Now that I’ve resorted to this, I have nothing more to do than to keep doing it. :D

On a fun note, this service is free for the first 30 days, then after that you have to pay USD5 a month to keep using the site. Usually I avoid subscription services like the plague, but this site has a few gamification and data features that interests me (which reminds me I need to look up that Big Data course on Google).

There’s badges here! As in badges that you get when you sign up, when you complete achievements, and so forth. They also pull your IP and display the weather it was when you were writing; I find this quite amusing and would probably be a good way for me to gauge further down the road what keeps me writing and what probably keeps me in bed.

Now, for the features that caught my eye; this site also has stats on when you write, your speed, the words you use, etc etc etc, all stuff that I usually find very useful. These stats are kind of hard to collect though, and even harder to display meaningfully (aka I am too lazy to see if the scripts for this exist). They also have monthly and weekly stats, which are far more useful to me.

Yes, I’m using this site as a way to keep myself writing. 750 words, I think, is a pretty hefty chunk to write. It’s three pages long, which, for a blog, is pretty lengthy. But I think it might work, and since they’re talking about writing a little bit every day, I think it’s a good habit to start again.

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Original entry as appearing at Ink to Screen.

So last night I somehow ended up running in the Men’s Health/Shape 2012 Run. It was a rather interesting experience, considering that I did not really train for this, and that it was my first time running with my new sports shoes (not the first time I used then, just the first time they were going to be used in a run) and vest.

I picked up the Wind Goddess a bit later than expected because I had a prior appointment with Joicy and it took a bit longer than expected. My brother then decided to drive us there, so I just needed to focus on getting myself ready for the run. Well, we reached there with plenty of time to spare, and unlike the Standard Chartered KL Marathon (I was there as support), we didn’t have any trouble locating the parking areas and meeting up with runners. Neon yellow-green vests are very visible!

Flag-off time was 8pm, and Wind Goddess and I were there at 7.10pm plus, so we decided to wander around. I didn’t take too many photos because I wanted to conserve my phone’s battery for the run, so we took just a few shots.

Including this lovely sunset!

Alt text reads: Sunset over Putrajaya

And then night fell quickly. Wind Goddess and I had decided to be kiasu and line up close to the front. According to her, “It’s a strategy, so that no matter where you are, you won’t come in last.” And this was how close we were to the front:

Alt text reads: Close to the front

Here’s the lopsided view of what it looked from the back:

Alt text reads: To the back~ To the back~

There were a few performances, including some by the Star’s Cheer National Champions, but they had a quiet reception because not many people could see them. Then they called the VIP who was the President of Perbandaran Putrajaya (I’d explain what that is, but the official site is down, hmmm). He was supposed to send us off, and I thought he’d give us a speech first before running off, but the next thing I knew we were off and running and I was fumbling with my phone.

But then we were running, and I remember telling myself to pace my steps. Didn’t really work as I was still moving quite fast, but as we left the bright lights of Putrajaya and hit the bridge, I began to slow down and start walking fast. Which was still not quite enough to beat Wind Goddess; I overtook her twice and then she did the same and I didn’t see her again after. :p

As I ran, I began to feel out of breath. My chest felt like it was on fire and I thought I would be done before I had barely begun. However, I persevered. There was no way I was going to let this beat me at the first kilometre. I caught myself wondering at times why in the world did I sign up for this, and then being very glad that I decided to dump extra songs in Mort; he played quite a few songs that pumped the blood and helped me pace myself.

I hit the first water station about 23 minutes after leaving the finish line. That one small cup of water rejuvenated me. Had to slow down a bit to drink the water, then I started jogging quickly looking for a trash can. There was no way I was going to be like the other runners who simply threw the cups on the ground. Littering is bad, people!

That said, I kept on running till I began to get a bit distracted, like Secret did when she did the SCKLM 10km run. I took my time looking around, feeling the cooling wind on my body, before I kept jogging up and down. It was also one of the few times I took a photo while running. Here, have a pic of what it looked like:

Alt text reads: Runners everywhere! All walking lol

Whoever told me that the route was mainly flat was definitely off their assessment. There were apparently 4 hills according to Zorocaster, and so I tackled them as best as I could. My strategy was simple; climb/crawl up the hill, then jog down.

If you follow my pace in Endomondo, they didn’t quite always work. However, I realise that the water stations actually help a lot. The temptation is to resist taking more than one, or I should just grab the bottle. The water wasn’t just used in my body; I poured some of them on my head, face, and even my shoulders. It helped cool me down.

Also did I mention that my running top was pretty awesome? I was using the Nike Women’s Dri-FIT Swift Y-Back Long Shirt, and it actually kept me pretty cool. In fact, I was aware of sweat only on my arms and back, where it was exposed. My tummy and other areas didn’t feel wet at all, which is pretty unusual considering that usually when I run in a t-shirt, these areas would be sweating like anything.

After that first water station, I discovered that breathing and lung burning weren’t there any more. In fact, I was almost comfortable with running… except that it was time to discover that various parts of my body were now screaming. First it was my left thigh, then my right foot, then my right thigh, then my lower left foot… roughly in that order. Yes, they were all polite enough to take turns to scream at me. At one point I think even my lower right abdomen side was screaming. :D

As long as I kept moving though, the pain was fairly muted. When I looked around to see where I was, I realised I was on the opposite side of the lake. The first thought that ran through my mind was “Wow, I ran that far? I can do this!”

So I kept running. And jogging. Then walking. But always I was moving. I did not dare stop, because I knew then that I would be done for. So I just kept putting one feet in front of the other. Till I saw this sign after the last water station and went yay!

Alt text reads: LAST THREE KM!

My very first thought was: OMG YAY LAST THREE KM! This was then followed by “KANASAI WHY IS IT UPHILL?” (that’s a Chinese swear word, in case you were wondering). My colleague describes it as killer, and I agree. It was no joke climbing it, and through it all my body was saying, “You’ve got to be kidding me, right? We’re running uphill on this?”

We did it though, and then it was a bit of fun as we ran traffic lights, through a relatively flat road, and the next thing I knew I saw the lights of the bright Putrajaya centre. This made me jog and walk a bit faster, and it was enough for me to come in at 1 hour 55 minutes for a 12.42km run (officially the run was 11.8km, but Endomondo tracked me a bit longer). Towards the last I saw plenty of camera people taking photos, so I did the next best thing…

I made faces at them. I’m still waiting for the photos to appear, but when I crossed the finish line, my first thought was “OMG. I MADE IT. I DID… WAIT IS THAT AN APPLE GIMMIE THAT OMNOMNOMNOM” because they were giving out apples at the end. Then I let out a whoop cause damnit, I RAN 11.8KM! Then I checked my time. Discovered it was under two hours.

Was on a high the rest of the night. :D

Original entry as appearing at Ink to Screen.

*blows dust off journal* Hello! How’s everyone feeling today? Good? Glad to hear that. So now you can make yourself comfy and read this long ass update. XD

So, I’ve been going through this Meta-NLP course for the past few days. NLP is short for Neuro-Linguistic Programming, which basically says that all the resources you need to be successful or to achieve your goals in life is there with you. It’s a matter of accessing and realising that the resources are there for you to use that you need to be aware of. 

It’s day 4 today and we’re learning about meta-states. My understanding of this is simply thinking about thinking. For example, someone cuts into your lane. You feel angry that someone did so. Then you think to yourself, “wait, why am I being angry?” It’s examining your reactions to an event. It simply drives home the conclusion that it’s very normal to feel emotions. Feeling angry, sad, happiness, frustration, disappointment, all these are normal. It’s normal to feel. Productive even, in some cases (note that we’re talking mainly about feeling. Whether a person actually demonstrates it is another matter entirely). 

Talking about meta-states is not the reason I’m sitting here in front of the comp skipping lunch because I had a heavy breakfast though.  

It’s just that I wanted to bring you a simple message.

Have you given yourself permission to be awesome? Did you think about allowing yourself to be the person that you want to be? That you know you CAN be? 

Have you simply said to yourself, “I give myself permission to be awesome” and then let nature takes it course?

I’m writing this entry with one particular friend in mind, but perhaps you can apply it to all other areas in your life. I’m not saying that this will be a mantra and that your life will be smooth sailing after this (if I did, someone lock me up because we all know that life doesn’t happen that way). Rather, I want to ask, when was the last time YOU felt awesome? Remember that time, let your body feel it again. 

Now put it out of your mind. And go about your day as normal. Let awesomeness come to you. 

Tell me what happens later ya?

Original entry as appearing at Reach Into Your Soul.

Just a reminder to self:

- Write entry on Otome games
- Clean up study desk, put some books up for sale, mop floor
- Read up on Selangor’s Freedom of Information Bill – Write article on how to use that once it’s confirmed

——-

To be done when I wake up later: Replace current Seagate drive, install old harddisk, re-install Windows 7 and migrate things from Ele to Kuro, then put Kuro back on the floor after cleaning out the dust. Done!

~~~~

Also, meme, since Max asked nicely, and Fenix posted the link earlier:

Original entry as appearing at Reach Into Your Soul.

Just one. A very simple one.

All fiction writings must have a wordcount set before I write it. That’s all.

Now, onto next work.

Original entry as appearing at Reach Into Your Soul.

MUAHAHAHAHAHAHAH I WON! Ok now to the actual business of finishing that monster.

Original entry as appearing at Reach Into Your Soul.

This is a continuation of the Pre-Nano shorts I wrote in 2006. The short series shall now be called Ity, and will consist of Pre-Nano shorts I’ve written before. It’ll be taking place at the same time as the events of Dreamer’s Trilogy, but as a side story.

It was night when Lance and Ran met again. They had elected to have dinner at Ran’s home, so they were assured of privacy. Zhilbar decided against cooking and literally whipped up a few dishes. Over dinner, they spoke about Zhilbar’s many emanations and children; Ran had not seen them in some time. They skipped talking about the murder at the temple until dinner was over and the plates were empty between them.

Ran kept quiet hearing Zhilbar’s encounter with the child at the temple. She sounded like she was perhaps a Priestess, for her bearing and her behaviour towards Zhilbar. He himself had never heard the girl being described by Zhilbar. She had not been present during his initial negotiations with the girls, and he highly doubted that they would have sent an amateur to check out the place.

“The acolyte looked unnerved by her. It seems that once she knew the target was dead, she decided to leave things as it was,” Zhilbar leant against the pillar, watching as Ran trimmed his bonsai.

“That’s unusual. It’s not like them to give up so easily,” Ran was fairly sure that there was something happening that should not have been.

“So, what’s your next move?”

“The boy can look after things in the office. What did the child look like?”

Zhilbar grinned and projected an illusion of the girl in front of Ran. The illusion though, was incomplete. There was a section of her neck that refused to show, so the dark-haired girl looked like her neck was missing a vital piece. That surprised Zhilbar, but before he could do anything, Ran let out a soft whistle.

“So she wasn’t kidding,” he said.

“What do you mean?”

“That missing neck means she’s protected by another Divine Being. It’s where the mark of protection was put on her. At least I don’t have to wonder if the rumours were true,” Ran sat down.

“Rumours?” Zhilbar raised an eyebrow.

“Someone said that the women were a front for a religious organisation. With that mark, we can be absolutely certain,” Ran rolled himself a cigarette and offered one to Zhilbar, who declined. “It’d explain their decision to pull back and why he was afraid of her. The acolytes only fear other religious, never a commoner, and rarely a God,” he took a long puff.

“They don’t fear Gods?” Zhilbar raised an eyebrow.

“Gods in this part of the Universe are bound by interesting rules. The ones in the East are allowed to intervene directly without the aid of their followers. However, they pay the price by being limited to one area. This area can be expanded, of course, but the expansion often requires physical expenses,” Ran explained.

He nodded as a look of realisation came over Zhilbar’s face.

“Yes, you see now why this land has so many shrines. It’s not just here, but all over what they call the Far East. Here, the presence of the Gods needs to be backed by shrines, churches, temples, and the like. It’s a boundary of sorts; even those that did not need such trappings in their original countries find that such trappings are necessary here,” Ran took another long breath of his pipe.

“What about the West?”

“Ah now, that, that’s a conundrum. The West, on the other hand, may move freely, but they can only act when their subject prays for it. Even then, they must ensure that the faith of their subjects are sufficient for the miracle they wish to carry out,” Ran explained further.

“That does not seem fair,” Zhilbar pointed out, to which Ran laughed.

“Not on the surface. The Easterners are very distrustful of Gods. They worship these Gods, but they’ve been exposed to demons, so their view of the world is multi-coloured. They don’t see things in black and white. I’ve heard stories of Gods who made the mistake of offering a miracle to a mortal who did not need it; they ended up arguing about the matter for years.”

“They must be patient then.”

“On the contrary, they’re not. They’re just very cautious, and they came from the stock that is very calculating. It’s something that’s hardwired into them.”

“So how does this relate to the girl and the acolyte?”

“Well, all disciples can be imbued with certain power. Bear this in mind, a God needs to play by the rules dictated to him by Karma and Chronos. A religious is bound only by what they think is best for their God,” Ran waited for Zhilbar’s horror.

Which was not long in the coming.

“Now you see why I chose to settle here.”

“I would have joined you earlier if I had known,” Zhilbar raised his glass.

“I would not have allowed it. As you can see around you, the outcome of such systems is that the mortals discount the presence of the Gods, learning to accept the miracles as part and parcel of nature. What they cannot explain, they investigate, as it should be. This world has reached that point where Gods are no longer really needed; they’ll survive on their own even without us,” Ran sighed.

“Yet you won’t leave.”

“I won’t…” Ran’s words were cut off as the two Divine Beings jumped up and onto the walls of the small garden.

A projectile, hurled over the wall, landed in the garden and exploded. It had been aimed at no one in general, but the destruction temporarily blinded Zhilbar and Ran. As the smoke cleared, Zhilbar growled and took a step back.

His assailant came out of the smoke to attack him head on.

“Foolish!” Zhilbar let that slip, and raised his hands to ward off the attack.

His assailant hissed, and turned in mid air, a tail wrapping around Zhilbar’s human neck. Faster than the eye could follow, Zhilbar was lifted bodily and thrown to the ruined garden.

It was a move that was sure to have broken his back, but Zhilbar was not human.

“Urgh!”

The cry from Ran distracted Zhilbar’s attention, but the lizard attacker was jumping at him. Swiping the lizard away as he would a fly, Zhilbar went to find his friend.

The attackers were to realise that they had attacked the wrong pair.

Original entry as appearing at Reach Into Your Soul.

After having Mom nag at me and being completely bitchy today about me going late to church, God has decided to remind me that it’s not in the Church where He’s found. It’s everywhere. It’s been a day to regain my trust in humanity after the doom and gloom of reading Science Fiction.

It’s in the delighted smile of a child who’s happy someone recognised her wave and waves back with a smile. It’s in awesome people like this (thanks Silicon Shaman on LJ!) who do what they can to help a combat mate with a personal challenge.

It’s things like these that make me cry, for my faith in humanity is restored.

Original entry as appearing at Reach Into Your Soul.