Posts (page 2)

What would you attempt to do if you knew you could never fail? 

Become a famous mangaka.

Did you go to summer camp? Which one? What did you enjoy doing? 

Yeah, I did. All the time. My parents always went overseas or were working during school holidays, so they either dumped me on the most willing relative or summer camp if they were going overseas or at tennis camp if they were just working.

The summer camp I went to most often was called "Milson Island". And yes, it was actually on an island, in the middle of the Hawkesbury river. You had to take a ferry to get there. I think I actually became known as a regular there too, I'm pretty sure I went there at least once a year for a few years, if not more. It wasn't really a summer camp so much as an "all year round" camp-- they did camps in the spring, autumn and winter holidays too. Though I don't think I ever went in winter, it was too cold, and my parents never travelled anywhere in winter either.

I always went with my best friend at the time, Alex, and her little sister Olivia. I remember there were four "cabins", each with about ten or so rooms to them, and two people to a room. Two girls cabins and two boys cabins, and they were all named after local rivers. The first time we went, I remember Alex and I were allocated room 6 in the Hawkesbury cabin-- the cabin furthest away from the mess hall and the assembly area. But we loved it. Every time we went after that, we always requested to stay in that room and cabin. We shunned her younger sister a bit 'cause we were terrible, but Olivia was always good at making friends quickly. She'd always find some other girl her age on the boat to talk to on the way over, and by the time we were assigned cabins, she'd have a roommate already.

I remember loving it, at that age. I think I was very different to how I am now-- now I think I'd hate it. I hate doing anything outdoorsy or too strenuous or without internet connection these days. But back then I hadn't really discovered the internet or the life of a recluse, and I was an outdoors daredevil, 100%. It's strange for me to look back on those days because I was so different. It's almost like I'm recalling somebody else's memories instead of my own. I threw myself into everything with gusto-- rock climbing, abseiling (which I never managed to get over the cliff face, even though I tried hard every year, my horrendous fear of heights wasn't something I got over until grade 9, much much later), bike riding, bush walking, canoeing, fishing, even cleaning the mess hall.

Every cabin had to take their turn at helping serve the food and clean up later. Alex and I would always grab the mops/brooms. We'd have races up and down the mess hall to see who could clean their aisle the fastest. I always won though (unfairly so) because Alex had a medical problem with her legs (which I still don't know the name of) that didn't allow her to run very fast. I think she's grown out of it mostly now, but I remember when we were young it was a big problem for her and she had to take some vile tasting medication every day. Anyway, I wouldn't really know about now, seeing as how we don't really talk anymore. We never had a fight or stopped being friends, we just drifted apart slowly as we became interested in different things. I always marvel at how different I probably would have been if I hadn't discovered the addictions of the internet and anime so early on.

Anyway, that was a bit of a tangent, and a very long-winded way of saying yes I did go to summer camp, and I enjoyed every bit of it. Sometimes I wish I could go back to those days when I loved physical activity and being outdoors and everything was fun and rules were for other people and Alex and I were still best mates, but... everything fades to memory eventually, I guess.

Should driving while talking on a cell phone be outlawed? 

Isn't it already? Well, I know it is in Australia, anyway. What the hell are you crazy Americans doing that it isn't illegal already over there? Geez.

When has your first impression of someone turned out to be completely wrong? 

Hmm... never, that I can think of.

You have $100 to spend online in the next hour.  How are you going to spend it?

Ehh, well, if it's only $100... I'd wanna make sure I got the most out of that $100, and there's really not a LOT of stuff I want that you can buy for under that amount. I mean, I want books, but you can buy them anywhere. So if it had to be something online, and if it wasn't my money I was spending, I'd splurge it all on doujinshi from eBay and JPQueen 8D.

But if it was my $100, that's a different matter. I spend my own money very differently to how I spend other people's (eg, my parent's money, birthday money-- doesn't count as "my" money because I didn't do anything to earn it-- or free money, like stuff you get from winning competitions). I almost never splurge with my own money, because I'm so aware of how much work goes in to earning it (ha ha I hate my job and my hours) that I never want to spend it. Because once you spend it, you can't get it back. And I hate wasting money, so I won't spend it unless I know it's definitely something that I'll get a lot of value out of. Even then, it's hard for me to justify spending $100 at once with my own money.

How many discount cards do you carry in your wallet and where are they from?

... Actually none! But I do tend to accumulate loyalty cards, so lets count those instead because I'm bored.

#1: New Zealand Natural ice cream parlour. "Buy 5 regular products and receive a free regular ice cream or sorbet; buy 5 more and recieve a free regular smoothie!" lol it has exactly 1 stamp on it and expired in December last year. OOPS. That can go in the bin.

#2: Hontou Pancakes japanese pancake stall \o/. "Buy 9, get your 10th free." I looove this place, but since they moved from Chatswood into the city I don't get to go there as much anymore. It only has three stamps on it so far, but at least there's no expiry date :D.

#3: Muffin Break, which I used to buy stuff from a lot and now... don't for some reason. "Buy 9 muffins/hot chocolates and get your 10th free!" (Seperate sides of the card for muffins and hot chocolates. But damned if they don't make EXCELLENT hot chocolates!) The muffin side only has 3 stamps, the hot chocolate side has 6 \o/.

#4: Muffin Break again. It's the same as the above one, but a summer-version. So instead of muffins/hot chocolates, it's muffins/milkshakes.

#5: BOOST juice shop. Buy 10 juices/smoothies/hotties and get the 11th free. Danananana.

#6: Wellbeing health bar. Buy 9 smoothies get 10th free. T-this is actually my second Wellbeing loyalty card, since I already used up my first one ^^;;. I love their banana smoothies so much :QQQ.

What other names did your parents consider for you?

I'm pretty sure my mother didn't ever consider any name other than "Cassandra" for me. She was pretty dead-set on naming her first girl Cassandra from the age of 5. I have four sisters, but they're from dad's first marriage, so technically I'm still my mother's first and only girl child. Apparently she read the story of Troy as a kid and loved the idea of the Princess Cassandra and ever since then... well, yeah. Keep in mind that my mother had me almost forty years later. Yeah. If you ever needed any other proof that my mother stopped mentally maturing after the age of thirteen, this is it. ... My mother scares me, sometimes.

Though, if I'd been a boy, my mother said her first choice name for me would have been Brock. Yes, Brock. Yes, you heard me. No, I cannot make this shit up. GOD, IMAGINE ALL THE PRIMARY-SCHOOL POKEMON JOKES THAT WOULD HAVE ENSUED. I shudder to think.

As for my dad, he didn't have any male names, since they knew pretty early on that I was going to be a girl. But he wanted to call me Azalea. (... I feel I should clarify, Azalea pronounced like the flower, not the bitchy dragon girl in Orphen who has made sure I can never read that name/flower correctly on the first try ever again.) Which I... actually wouldn't have minded! I think it's pretty, and more... unique xD? But my mother is my mother and will always have her own way, especially against Dad who is a pussy when it comes to most arguments, so. There wasn't ever any real chance that Dad would have gotten his way xD.

As a side note, my middle names are Evelyn and Rachelle. Both picked by my mother (if that gives you any idea of how little she ever compromises with anyone, she wouldn't even let Dad pick a middle name, and I have TWO of them). My mother is more than a little obsessed with France and French things, so. French middle names it is. ... I personally think they sound hilariously pretentious, especially in combination with my first name, but oh well |D.

What do you absolutely refuse to eat?

Seafood. It makes me upchuck 8D! Fun times for all involved. Ugh. Just the smell of it is enough to make me nauseous.

What sites show up if you type "S" into your browser's address bar?

sendspace.com
status.livejournal.org
squidgeesushi.livejournal.com
scans_daily.livejournal.com
sportsgirl.com.au
sidereel.com/Ugly_Betty
superbeastly.livejournal.com
seeklyrics.com/lyrics/Pink/
senseis.xmp.net/
snog-watch.livejournal.com
smh.com.au
s-manga.net
stoptazmo.com

The rest are just side-pages of the above URLs, so there's not much point in listing them.

It's funny what and how much you can learn about a person by looking at a person's browser address dropdown. For example, from just that much alone you can gather the following about me:

1) I frequent livejournal rather too much
2) I have an avid interest in Japanese manga and American comics
3) I'm interested in fashion (lol sportsgirl)
4) Not only do I love Ugly Betty, but I download my TV from the internet lol pirates life for me?
5) I like P!nk <3
6) I read my news online, not the paper
7) I'm a bit addicted to Go (@ sensei's library)

And there you have it. Seven ABSOLUTELY RIVETING (pffthaha) things about me.

When you were younger, did your parents ever send you away for the summer?  What was the experience like?

All the time. In fact, not just for the summer, but almost every school holidays up until the age of about eight. Summers I would always spend up in Brisbane with my grandmother and the other holidays I would go with Alex, my then-best-friend to Milson Island for week-long camps, or to "tennis camp" where I'd play tennis all day long for a week so that by the time I came home, I was so exhausted that I flopped right into bed.

My parents generally didn't know what to do with me and were work-a-holics, so I think we spent less time together during the holidays than during school term time.

Maybe it's obvious, but we don't have a very strong familial bond :|b.