Three separate entries in one day! Eheh. I just have much to say, I guess, and multiple fandoms to give attention to. :P

Speaking of which, finally started on my Supernatural Season 3 DVDs, and I MISS DEAN <3. And Sam. And Bobby. And gosh, I love Supes. It is funny. And awesome.

So anyway, have been going out every day since exams ended. And yesterday, met up with Eunice and Yujie, spending the entire day randomly spazzing over JE (sorry, Eunice... :P) and trashing out stuff and talking about every other thing, and getting The Tales of Beedle The Bard:

I'm almost done with it. And just reading the first few pages gave me a feeling of nostalgia so strong, I was compelled to pick up Philosopher's Stone on the spot to start rereading the entire HP series. But rereading Lymond is enough to handle at the moment, I think. Not to mention the thousands other things I supposedly want to do this December break. You know what, I realise I have a crazy number of fandoms :D and I like it this way.

Later on in the day, the three of us wanted to get dessert and we were going out of Borders and I saw some dudes dressed in yellow robes drinking Ice Blended Coffee at Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf.

Me: Are those monks?
Yu Jie: No lah, I think they're llamas.

Okay, I suppose it doesn't sound funny at all now, but I was bursting into laughter when Duck said that! Because yes, although she meant lamas as in the term given to 'Tibetan teachers of Dharma', upon hearing, I took it that she meant the clippity-clop-hairy-animal llamas and proceeded to laugh uncontrollably all the way to Cedele (where we had pancakes with ice cream). Can you try to see the funny in this? I saw two men, asking if they are monks by way of profession, and Yu Jie replies, that, no, they're furry four-legged animals instead! XD

So anyway, the difference between lamas and monks is that a monk can be a lama but a lama cannot be a monk, as in a square can be a rectangle but a rectangle cannot be a square. :P Okay, I'm being deliberately silly. Basically, the wikipedia link up there says that lamas are special Tibetan monks, who have attained higher levels of spirituality. The Dalai Lama is but one of many possible lamas. So yes, dear Yu Jie, you're right, they could be lamas. But they're definitely monks. I win!

I don't know why I'm doing this. I don't know why I'm awake at such an ungodly hour - 2 am - during the supposed exam week, for god's sake. And it's not like I'm watching a drama or reading nice fics (although I did find a good one... that turned SLASH into the third chapter, so I had to bail out. -_-") or keeping myself otherwise obsessed. I'm simply refusing to sleep and staying awake wiki-ing silly things like Hokkaido (or Ezogashima as it used to be called in 17th-Century Japan) and googling blogs for yamapi, maki, kurosagi, myself and now Lymond. (I recently discovered the wonders of google blogsearch. I concede; google rocks.)

LYMOND PIMP POST (Click here to know more about Lymond.)

It is such a wonder to read about other Lymond fans. Because Lymond is such an inaccessible book for people who can't endure small font, 500-page novels, incomprehensible references and dialogue riddled with French and Spanish, Lymond is always understated. I always feel like nobody knows it enough when dang it, it should be acknowledged as one of the best book series ever created, alongside the likes of HP. Actually, I don't think they're even comparable because they're not all alike in genre, nor in intensity. While Rowling awes people with the over decade-long research she invested to create the world of wizards and muggles, her work still seems dwarfed to what I know Dunnett went through to create Lymond. Dunnett lived in the age of typewriters, before the advent of the internet, and she kept stacks of notes about Lymond and had over 500 books in a private library for research (correct me if I'm wrong). I mean, Dunnett travelled to Turkey to visit the Topkapi palace for her book! Talk about dedication. Talk about authenticity. Talk about the creation of an absolute masterpiece. Her work is inspiring. And we're not talking about a fantasy genre here --- this is historical fiction; one of the toughest genres to succeed in, I think. Because while you want to create an exciting story, you still have to stay true to history. It is no mean feat.

I don't think there's any other work of fiction I reserve such reverence for. While I love HP to bits, it doesn't quite give me the same feeling of awe. And while HP's world is rich and beautifully detailed, nothing can compare to the feeling of anticipation of rereading the complicated series that is the Lymond Chronicles. Yes, rereading. Because the story is so complex and so deeply intricate, that there are still layers of secrets yet to be understood by readers. Every new read offers a new experience, a new level of understanding and new insight. It is that fascinating. AND MY - the political intrigue. Droolworthy. (Not to mention Lymond himself. Ahak, how could I forget.) And the beautiful prose and dialogue. I swear, Lymond quotes are part of my 'important axioms of life'.

A sample: "Lack of genius never held anyone back, Only resentment and daydreaming can do that."

Anyway, what sparked off this Lymond rave was finding this lady's blog, who had somewhat the same reaction as me when reading the 4th book, Pawn in Frankincense.

I quote (Link here):

This is embarrassing to admit, but at one point, I screamed “Traitor!,” threw the book across the room, and began wailing in grief. My bewildered husband tried to comfort me, saying “But it’s only a story.” Only a story? For the past six weeks, it had been my life.

:DDDDD Raise your hand if you've flung a Lymond book before! HAHA. I have! And I shall never forget it because, hello, flinging books?!?!?! Never happened before Lymond! It is mad. But Dunnett is more genius than human, or something, I'm guessing. I remember, I was sprawled in bed, face stuck in book, then that horrible part in the book happened, and I cried out and threw the book over the edge of the bed and sat horrified in bed, with tears streaming. I didn't wail, haha, but I was crying a mad amount.

If you've reached this far in my entry, congratulations! Are you convinced about this book? It is a reading experience not to be missed, please. If you're looking for a book to get into over a nice holiday break, keep Lymond in mind. (Forget Twilight! Read Lymond! Btw, how is it not nuts that the Twilight movie raked in 70 million USD in the opening weekend?!?!?! O.o That's almost three times the amount that Quantum Solace made. God.)

And oh god. This overly long entry just proves how much of a biblio-geek I am. The extent of love I have for imaginary things and inanimate objects is quite boggling. I have much love to share, apparently. Don't worry, I love people to bits too. I just don't pimp about them here. 8D Maybe I should; oh wouldn't that be fun.

I don't know where my brain was today. I must be seriously lacking rest, which is why I shouldn't be online but sleeping instead. But I am stubborn like that. I sort of blundered through the later half of today. Coupled with the fact that I was fasting, I became rather cranky and extra blur. Such that I spoiled Afidah's stack of film because I switched on the white light in the dark room before sealing the box. So the top bit of each film is black. :( KARUT. And on the way home, I was dozing off really badly in the train. Really lah, so embarassing! Usually, I think I sleep rather decently and manage to sit straight but I was so damn sleepy this time. I was like leaning almost 45 degrees into the next person's personal space. Then at Simei, I groggily woke up and thought it was Tampines and rushed off the train. BODOH. Actually, I realised just before I stepped out the train doors, but I thought I'd already embarrassed myself enough and pretended my house was at Simei. Nyaha.

And here I ramble a little about the concept of fandom.

I've been thinking about fan-speak lately. You know, fan jargon the likes of which if you've never fangirl-ed, you'll never know? Words like fanon, fic, canon, AU, PWP, slash, het, BNF, meme, keyboard smash, OTP and all the weird acronyms for pairings depending on which fandom you're talking about - LoVe, HPGW, H/D, Wincest (gah,scary >.<) etc. Nowadays, the name squish for pairings is becoming highly popular, at least in JE fandom: Yamaki, Kamepi, Tegopi, Tomapi, Ryopi, Piyui, Pin and Tegomassuki. Like WTH man. It amuses me greatly.

I think someone should do a study on fandom. Like study how these groups of girls crop up and establish such big communities online that share fan stuff and interact and develop the fan world. I am fascinated. Truly.

Reference:

fandom = whatever book, show, movie, story, actor, personality etc that people are obsessed about.

canon = reality i.e. what actually happens in the real book/show/movie/etc

fanon = NOT canon; creation of fans; e.g. in Harry Potter fandom, for some reason, Draco Malfoy is highly perceived as some gorgeous, rich, misunderstood, witty and highly redeemable dude of Veela ancestry. HAHA. This is very very far from JK Rowling 's version of Draco.

fic = abbreviation for fanfiction, which if you don't know, (I am shocked!), are literary works written by fans about their fandom to satisfy their insatiable thirst for more canon.

AU = alternate universe; meaning that the fan disregards actual canon entirely when doing fanwork. e.g. Harry Potter is a prince of 16th century England and Hermione a princess with whom he is forced to wed. Personally, I think good AU works are hard to come by. Because seriously, who wants to read about Hermione worrying about arranged marriages and fitting into corsets, and nothing about magic?!

PWP = Plot what plot; this is basically fanfiction in which the fan writes crappy pointless stuff like smut or trashy humour.

slash = same-sex situations; nowadays, this is the dominating sexual preference among fans. go figure. -_-

het = male/female pairings; slowly approaching extinction in fandom, in my opinion. scary, I tell you.

BNF = big name fan; e.g. the notorious Cassandra Claire who wrote the Draco Trilogy; they are kind of the 'elite' of the fans whom all other fans 'cling' to; usually BNFs are great writers who produce fantastic reviews, fanfiction or fanart.

meme = I still am not sure what a meme is! HAHA. I thought I knew what it was. I think it might be like a survey done by a fan for fans? not sure.

keyboard smash = fan-squee in keyboard fashion; it's basically being so excited about something that you type incoherently this: lkhfnsydagfbnuasydgfabsuynfksaniuf vyqowygp qhJDKW;,KLMHASGNASDFJCBHN; actually, I think this might not be exclusive to fandoms. Eunice does it quite a lot.

OTP = one true pairing; a fan's favourite pairing

LoVe = Logan Echolls and Veronica Mars; this is one of my favourite name squishes!

HPGW = Harry Potter and Ginny Weasley; sometimes it's so funny to see a slew of capital letters in a fanfic summary, like this: HPGW HGDM RLSB SSMM etc. go figure -_-. But I think this sort of abbreviation has phased out, in place of adorable name squishes?

H/D = Harry/Draco; this is the default manner to write pairings before they come up with more creative ways.

Wincest = Dean/Sam Winchester from Supernatural; called so because they're brothers! incest, yo! >.< Rest assured, I keep absolutely clear of this scary pairing (and in fact of every kind of slash). Homosexuality of any kind still makes the hairs on the back of my neck stand, I'm very sorry.

And a list (not exhaustive one) of JE pairings:

Yamaki = Yamapi + Maki (my OTP <3!)

Tomapi = Ikuta Toma + Yamapi

Kamepi = Kamenashi + Yamapi

Ryopi = Ryo + Yamapi

Piyui = Yamapi + Aragaki Yui

Tegopi = Tegoshi + Yamapi

Pin = Yamapi + Jin

Tegomassuki = Tegoshi + Masuda + Maki

Wahahaha. Yamapi is in almost everything. :P Someone did say he's somewhat like the little black dress of slash-dom. My my. Such crazy fans.

There are many other fandoms, each with their own exclusive language. Like Star Trek fans are called Trekkies and Battlestar Galactica fans called... something else? I can't quite remember now. And this is only like a glimpse into the crazy place that is fandom. And I know only the bare minimum to survive as I read LJ communities. So interesting, I tell you.