Bits and Pieces.

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Facebook. Fanfiction.net.

Status: Bored and restless.
Watching: Kuroshitsuji II.
Reading: Viewfinder Series by Yamane Ayano.
Currently into: Claude x Alois, Asami x Takaba, Sebastian x Ciel, Charles x Van.

Howdy.

I'm Hilaire and this Blogger account is for my writings, and my e-life in general. My posts will include updates about my fan fictions, my original characters and their profiles, my sudden flashes of genius, my muses, etc.

I'll also make posts about the anime, manga, fan fictions, and all other things that I find particularly interesting.

At present, I'm working as a beta-reader of one of my favorite fics. :D

07.08.12

Friday, November 5, 2010

The Gift of a Friend.

I'm supposed to be in school right now, enrolling myself for the next semester, which will start on the 9th of November. (Yup, it's a Tuesday; and no, I don't know what's up with the crazy let's not have classes on Mondays and start the week on Tuesdays instead thing. Well actually I do, but that's not the point.) I didn't go to school today, or yesterday, because I'm sick. I've a cough, a cold, and a slight fever that cannot make up its mind whether to stay or leave. Seriously.

In my uni we have this computerized enlistment for our subjects. Every student has her own account through which they post our grades (because class cards are sooo last decade). Every scheduled date before the sem starts, we're supposed to enlist ourselves in the subjects we fancy. When the enlistment closes, the uni's computer processes all our accounts, granting classes in absolutely random order, or according to your priority status.

I was granted 16 units, which is 3 units short of the 19 I'm planning to take this sem. This means I still have to prerog - a manual enlistment, if you may. When you manually enlist, you go to the college where the subject you want is, fall in line, and wait for them to enlist your name in the subject. Usually this takes a really long time, and people are practically dieing over the limited slots (hey, they can't enlist a hundred students in one subject, y'know), because not everyone gets the subject they want.

I wasn't able to get the Econ 141 that my friends told me to get during the computerized enlistment, so I was pretty depressed about it. I was not going to go through the nasty lines just to get that subject OH NO. I've been sick since Wednesday evening, and I wasn't going to school on Thursday to prerog. It's just wrong; I might faint or something. I felt pretty bad I couldn't join them, though.

It was then that one of them, Hannah, told me over Facebook that she could do the prerog for me. I was very  surprised by the offer, of course; prerog is really, really no laughing matter! That she'd do it for me was very kind of her! I said "Oh, wow, really? Will you really do it for me? Isn't it too much trouble? Thank you!" or something to that effect. I sent her my form5a, which contains my class schedule (kind of an ID during the prerog. You're supposed to print it, then show it to the person behind the computer so he'd enlist your name).

Yesterday morning she was texting me how long the line for the prerog was. I couldn't do anything about that, so I just sent her text messages every now and then, checking on her and her progress and stuff. I wasn't hopeful; the subject I wanted had only two slots left. It'd be a miracle if I get one of those two.

At about 3 PM she texted me again, abusing the caps lock and raving about how she managed to get me the subject they wanted me to take. I could hardly believe it myself, but well, she pulled it off, and I could just message "Thank you x 1000000!!!" to her. One out of two slots? That's just crazy. Lucky crazy.

It was later that night that I received a message from Marie, another one of my friends and college-mates, telling me I should go today (Friday) to school, because she's holding my form5a. Apparently she went with Hannah during the prerog, which of course means she fell in line,too, for my sake.

When I signed into Facebook I thanked them again, barely able to imagine how much trouble they must have gone through the day for me. And then Hannah told me how much trouble exactly they went through. It was A LOT.

Apparently there were three of them who had to fall in line so I could get that subject. Hannah and Marie left the line at 9:30AM to prerog in a different college, for a Math subject. They left my form5a with Amel, another of one of our friends, who I'm guessing must have also been manually enlisting for a subject himself. Hannah and Marie came back at 1:30PM (gracious, four hours!), only to find that Amel was still in the line!

The details of the whole thing is still not clear to me at this point, but apparently the officer inside the computer lab took my form5a so I could enlist, but since I was not there, he rejected it. Amel, thank goodness for him, told the officer that I was out for some bit, but I'd come back, so I MUST HAVE THAT FRIKKIN' SLOT!
Once Hannah was back she claimed to be me, and asked the officer to give the slot to her (who is now me, and man this is confusing). The slot had supposedly been given to someone else already, but Hannah's persuasion worked, and the officer granted her (me) the slot.

When I heard the whole story I nearly cried, because I was so touched that they really went that far for me. Marie asked me to come today so I could pick up my form5a. Since I'm still sick (and a lazy arse), I asked Jazelle if she could do that for me, to which she said yes. I'm going to school on Monday for the final prerog in another college, where I'll meet up with Jazelle for my form5a.

I'm just so very thankful for my friends, and I thought I'd tell this fancy little story. 

Of Tears and Tempers: a Gakuen Alice fan fiction.

"I'm turning thirty today, Misaki! Thirty! That's three-zero!"
In which Narumi weeps over his thirtieth birthday, and Misaki knocks some sense into his narcissistic little head. Oh, and Persona arrives with a few words of wisdom himself.

Category: Anime/Manga » Gakuen Alice.
Title: Of Tears and Tempers.
Characters: Narumi, Misaki, Persona.
Genre: Drama/General
Rating: K+.
Status: Complete (?)

This was supposed to be a snippet, and it's supposed to be titled Heart. Unfortunately it refused to be concluded - not until it was well past 1000+ words, which is not a snippet anymore. I didn't want to ditch it after taking the time to actually finish it, so I posted it as a one-shot. Besides, Persona needs more love. And fan fictions.

This was prompted by the manga I've been reading, Hana to Akuma (I still insist that Vivi looks a lot like Natsume. A WHOLE FRIKKIN LOT). There was a chapter there about birthdays, which was just funny and random and sweet; I thought I'd write something like it. 

I'm thinking of making this another collection, this time not exclusively about Narumi. I've about a ton of snippet-turned-one-shot that need to be posted out there. And besides it's really fun to mess with Persona and Narumi.

Best part of the fic (at least for me):


"Celebrating old age, Narumi? How interesting. Congratulations on being a step closer to death," Persona said unfeelingly, his cynical smirk as if to remind everyone that he wielded the alice of death.


Yaaay Persona. 

Plums and Lemons » Snippet #11 : Fiction.

A collection of snippets about Narumi.

"And they all lived happily ever after."
"But this book is labeled fiction, Narumi-sensei."
Of reality and fiction, and the line between.

Category: Anime/Manga » Gakuen Alice.
Title: Plums and Lemons » Snippet #11 : Fiction.
Characters: Narumi, OCs Midori and Mizu
Genre: Drama/General
Rating: K+.
Status: Complete.

This snippet was difficult to write, because I'm not as optimistic as Narumi is. I don't like fairytales, and I'm not too fond of what they call happy ever after. I just think they're usually overrated.

The original inspiration for this was Oscar Wilde's play, The Importance of Being Earnest. I was rereading it so I could sleep just a few nights ago, and I think it was Miss Prism who said that "The good ended happily, and the bad unhappily. That is what Fiction means." It was somewhat cynical, but it's still true.

Here's a couple of my favorite lines from my own snippet (how terribly narcissistic! LOL).

"No work of fiction, no matter how acclaimed, can capture Life's finest details; and no words, no matter how beautifully phrased, can stir the emotions felt by living Reality itself."

"Unlike in fiction, we don't need magic to get our own happy ever after."


"But what if there's no happy ever after, even after we've gone through so much?"
"Then it's not the end just yet."

I love this snippet. ;)