halfcactus

https://thefridayfive.dreamwidth.org/138441.html

1. What is your all time favorite book?
For the past decade, probably Ann Leckie's Radch trilogy--in particular Ancillary Justice. I remember reading it at my desk at my old job and getting assaulted with feelings. Also Goblin Emperor by Sarah Monette.

I feel like I keep waiting for my next reads to hit me the same way but I think I should reconcile myself with the fact that my reading brain is not what it was ten years ago, before the pandemic. ^^;

2. What is your all time favorite movie?
For the past decade, The Legend of Hei. Xiao Hei my baby!!!

3. What are you reading right now?
An assortment: the manhwa The Tale of Goldiluck the Black Kitten, which I adore fiercely; the manhwa As the Heart Leads, a fantasy/romance with pretty art, ongoing in its first season; The Thursday Murder Club by Richard Osman; The Invention of Darling, Li-Young Lee's latest anthology, which has a "plot" I can actually follow as it constructs (or reconstructs; I'm not very familiar with religious lore) a creation story. It feels less autobiographical and inward-facing than usual, an interesting experience.

I've also sampled the first chapters of the licensed translations of Run Wild (Saye) and The Imperial Uncle, though I'd hardly count that as reading.

4. What is your favorite show on TV?
For the past decade, the cdramas Nirvana in Fire, Qihun (Hikaru No Go cdrama), and The Murderous Affair in Horizon Tower. For anime, Chihayafuru, Silver Spoon, Run with the Wind, and Natsume's Book of Friends.

5. What is the last movie you saw in the theater?
Nezha 2, which I'm surprised they showed in our local theaters at all! A little sad that I missed Mickey 17 because I couldn't afford to watch two movies in the same week...

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Tech things, this month:

Finally learned to back up my computer without overwriting the backups from my previous computer! Next project would be trying to retrieve and back up my old music files and fanvids. Kinda sucks that because iTunes shifted to streaming, my mp3s (even the purchased ones!) disappeared from my folders in the process of all my reformats and migrations and I can't seem to download the files off the cloud.

Retrieved my Evernote files, mostly fic and poetry saved from the internet... One day I will go through them.

I can now (kind of! I mean I’ve only tried it on one site so who knows) rip streams through Stacher, which is yt-dlp for dummies (a.k.a. ME). Still using Cobalt and Wechat for everything else, which I hope never stop working bc they’ve been so reliable I don’t know any other good alternatives.

1. What's a song you'd enjoy screaming along to as you drove down the highway?
Last Dance by Wu Bai & China Blue—perfect, regardless of weather or traffic situation, though transmigrating is always a risk. And if I had the vocal range, Don't Stop Me Now by Queen and the Florence + the Machine version of Stand By Me (for the FFXV road trip feels, though I'm likely just to emote quietly for this ajksd;jafa).

2. What is your favorite place/type of environment to relax?
Quiet, familiar, introvert-friendly places that are not too small or big or crowded, with chairs and enough space to walk around in + free wifi. XD I recently watched a matinee showing of Six the Musical and had a blast just walking around the fancy theater and finding a quiet nook to sit in before it started. Also had a blast watching the actual musical, of course, where the audience, including me, was satisfyingly loud—it was the most joyful and present I've felt in a while, except that it ended with a traffic-ridden cab ride home and the driver fleeced an extra 15.00 out of me. >:(

3. What are the best kind of dreams?
Unbroken ones (unless it's a nightmare). Ones with a little bit of plot or music.

4. What do you look for in a mate?
Whether this means "friend" or "partner", this is something I've been thinking about a lot lately because I've been reassessing all my relationships and wondering if I'm truly friends with anyone, and how I can move forward. Communication + having a similar communication style top the list, as well as showing up for people. More recently I've added "safe/comfy enough for me to be myself in" which I've learned I'm not, a lot of the time—something I'm trying to figure out how to work on, because it's weird to feel like I'm always holding myself back when I'm around people who should know me well.

5. If you were a crayon color, what color would you be and why?
Oooh I like this question! I think Apricot—a low-key but warm shade.

1. Rice or potatoes?
I love potatoes! But I can't live without rice.

2. Fish or red meat?
Fish.

3. Salad or cooked vegetables?
Cooked veggies 100%. Salad is for fruit. XD

4. Cake or ice cream?
In this summer? Ice cream. But not until after I see my dentist. /o\

5. Water, soft drink, wine, beer, or hard alcohol?
Water. (My drink of choice is Arizona iced tea though...)

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1. What is your native heritage language?
Cebuano + a few basic phrases in Hokkien ("Have you eaten?" "What time are you coming home?") which I otherwise do not speak or understand. *laughs in biracial + diaspora + not really feeling like I fit in with any community*

Neither of which I can read or write in.

2. Do you speak any other languages? Which ones?
English, Tagalog, and a limited amount of Mandarin......... I have a broader vocabulary in these languages, as well as the capacity to read in them, but no fluency. Recently I realized that I can now understand a tiiiiny bit of Hiligaynon because I'm a serial eavesdropper and comment-reader.

3. How difficult is it for you to learn or understand new languages?
I don't really process things like difficulty because my learning processes have been so long and chaotic it's impossible to have any gauge for them, but speaking and constructing sentences are always hard. Even now I can't express myself in any language.

I have to say that in a lot of cases, language-learning is SO MUCH EASIER if you know English or any major languages... it's practically easy mode because of the amount of resources you can tap into. I often talk about this but learning Mandarin has been making Hokkien more accessible to me! And Mandarin, in turn, has been easier to learn since I know English.

Internet, smartphones and digital apps/dictionaries have also made language-learning so much more accessible than before! My Mandarin learning skyrocketed in the pandemic lololol. Ten years ago this would not have been possible for me.


4. If you were going to study a new foreign language, which would you want to learn?
I was studying Japanese a few years back, would love to get back into that.

5. How are you at reading subtitles in foreign films?
As someone who grew up on videogames and anime, I love subtitles in general. ♥ And I really like reading translations even for films in languages I know. It's fun and useful, especially since I'm not native-level in anything!

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1. What's a skill you'd like to learn?
I deeply want a sense of direction and the ability to process information and numbers.

2. What's a hobby you'd like to try?
Cycling, but I guess it's less of a hobby and more of a thing I wish was safe enough to try here. Maybe when I travel and am under the supervision of a friend haha.

3. What's the best compliment you've ever received?
Not really a compliment because I can't think of any off the cuff, just a recent thing that moved me - during our last get-together, a friend asked me if I still keep a blog or write reviews of things I watch because she liked reading my Livejournal... Which was how I found out that at some point Livejournal started sending e-mail notifications for friend updates!? I had terrible flashbacks of the entries I used to write lmfao like I'm so moved!!! But this is really embarrassing!

4. What's one way in which you are awesome?
I'm pretty good at visual communication! And I like learning how to use new graphics/editing apps, which helps me ~grow~. I fear the day I stop.

5. What's a gift you would like to receive (in case anyone asks)?
Money haha. A Kindle gift card (idk if that's a thing). The Herlock Sholmes game on the Switch. A lifetime Photoshop subscription so I don't ever have to stress about having my apps stop working. A bag of mini Cloud9s or Snickers. A Clickart set I can borrow for a week so I can decide whether I want it or not. Similarly, the full Affinity suite. XD