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f1v3p3t4ls
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Name: f1v3p3t4ls
Country: United States
Interests: games. games. books. survival horror. wildlife. fantasy. RPGs. football/soccer. shopping. anime. manga. tigers. greek mythology. paper + pencil art. gamelan. david hayter's voice. climbing things.
Expertise: wasting time. wasting time even when exams are imminent. looking like i have time to waste. enumerating things that i can do to waste time. turning beds into bookshelves.
Message: message me
Member Since:
4/28/2004
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| New word of the month: grift
Courtesy of Dictionary.com:
grift
–noun | 1. | (sometimes used with a plural verb ) a group of methods for obtaining money falsely through the use of swindles, frauds, dishonest gambling, etc. | | 2. | money obtained from such practices. | –verb (used without object) | 3. | to profit by the use of grift: a man known to have grifted for many years. | –verb (used with object) | 4. | to obtain (money or other profit) by grift. |
Thanks Neil Gaiman.
It's been a while since I last encountered a word that I absolutely had no clue as to what it meant. Well, we learn something new every day! :D
Do you guys remember where you learnt the words in your vocabulary? It may just be the geek in me, but for many of them, I do. And I have said this to many people -- I owe much of my vocabulary to the many years I have spent playing computer/video games.
I remember learning the words azure and avarice from Diablo I.
I remember learning the word silo from the first Command & Conquer game.
I remember learning that a falcon is a type of predatory bird from playing MechWarrior 2: 31st Century Combat.
I remember learning of the crops sorghum and gladiolus from playing SimFarm.
I remember learning of Genghis Khan and Venetian merchants from playing Genghis Khan II as a little girl ... way back then when you had to start a game by typing out the executable file name in MS-DOS.
I remember already knowing the word ether from Final Fantasy games, before I finally learnt what the hell it was in chemistry.
I remember not needing the SATs to know the words dexterity, evade and strafe, which are staple terms in many action games.
There are many other examples, but none that I can recall at this point. But I do recall that it wasn't just playing games -- I remember making a conscious effort to read fantasy books when I was a kid, because I knew it would build my vocabulary. I remember that my first fantasy books were Joe Dever's series of Kai Grand Master game books, and now fantasy is one of my favorite literature genres. Fantasy books are filled with words like countenance and coalesce, which are often too bombastic for everyday discourse but totally legitimate in fantasy literature. I remember that, I would always have a dictionary by my side whenever I read. And if I didn't have one, I would have a piece of paper on which I would write down the words that I didn't know so that I could look them up later.
See, I've always been geeky and obsessive, even when I was just a little girl :).
I don't profess to be a word master now, and I am sure real word masters probably acquired their more extensive vocabulary from other means. But that was part of my childhood ... and that is why when I think of things in my childhood that defined who I am and my ridiculously large array of random interests, amongst other things like my beloved Childcraft encyclopedia set and my GeoSafari game, it would be my brother's mini Oxford dictionary and my Seiko electronic dictionary that I acquired later. :)
Afterthought: This post makes me want to ponder upon where all my weird, random interests came from. I think that would make an interesting blog post :D.
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| My developmental genetics class this quarter only has 6 students.
The class starts at 12.10 pm. Yesterday, it was 12.09 pm and we were waiting for the 6th person to arrive.
Professor: That's weird, she's usually not late.
Classmates: ...
Professor: Adilla's the one who's usually late.
Me: T_T I know ... I'm sorry ...
What the hellllll.
*sigh* Kena label already.
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| Restless, restless, restless.
I need new distractions, because I'm restless.
I don't like it when I'm restless, because it makes me think about benda mengarut.
And that tends to make stupid things resurface. Stupid things that I've buried.
Things that I can't even let myself whine about. In order to preserve my dignity.
....
Check this out. Adilla is writing cryptic, emo entries. Not very her, eh?
I don't like it, either.
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| When you can't concentrate on your midterm exam ...
it is fun to laugh at funny Halloween videos, and discuss with friends about things that ... are best left unmentioned.
When you can't concentrate on your midterm exam ...
it feels good to drive on dark, empty freeways with the radio blasting from the speakers, and to sing at the top of your lungs and drum on your steering wheel, and to free your mind and not think of anything ... or to try to not think of some things.
When you can't concentrate on your midterm exam ...
it feels strangely natural to write in your increasingly abandoned blog.
When you can't concentrate on your midterm exam ...
it sucks that you refuse to do anything to help you do otherwise.
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| My old friends and I are already hitting the mid-20s. Once in a while, I'd be thinking "Hey, Miss A is still the same!" or "Miss B has never changed after all these years!" I've got that recently from a friend, who said that in the 4 years that he's known me, I was still the same old Adilla. I wonder what my 'older' friends think.
Because when I think back ... God, I am so different than what I was before in my adolescent years. When I think back, I used to possess many less than desirable traits that I have thankfully expelled from my current self. When I think of how I used to be, I shudder in embarrassment.
I feel sorry that my older friends had to put up with so much shit from me back then. Lol.
I just thought I'd write about this, since just several hours ago, a good friend of mine said: "You grew up happy, didn't you? You're so happy and chirpy. You must have gone through adolescence well."
He he he. No, my friend. Adolescence hit me hard. Adolescence hit me hard like a .50 calibre bullet shot at point blank. Physically, emotionally, and socially. I wasn't a happy, chirpy teenager. I hated myself XD.
So, what changed? How did I change? Believe it or not, it started with pretension :D.
I acted as if I was confident of myself. Now I've become sufficiently self-assured.
I changed the posture I walked with. Now I walk with my head up high.
I put up a facade of being loud and friendly when I met new people. Now I've become less shy*.
I pretended to think highly of myself. Now I have self esteem.
And I stopped thinking negatively. And now I've found that life is so much better when I'm always positive and happy.
So that is why, friends, I am always happy, cheerful and confident. Life is so much better this way. I enjoy being myself immensely. And you can't say "It's easy for you to say that, Adilla! You don't know what it's like." Ah, but I do. Because I know how it feels like to be sad all the time. I know how it feels like to have zero self-esteem. I know how it feels like to be pessimistic. I know how it feels like to have shitty personality and have people hate me**. I, above everyone else, can say this.
Life isn't all that awesome for me, either. I have shit in my life, too XD ... because really, who doesn't? I just don't ... think about it too much and just stay happy that way. You may want to argue that your life's shit is worse than mine, but I'm willing to bet that you are better off in some things than I am, too.
So just wait it out. The shit will pass. Your shit and my shit. Let's wait it out together. :) In the meantime, be happy! Trust me, it's so much better. Try it. :D
* Less shy. I'm still shy in some respects. In certain situations more than others. ^_^
** Disclaimer: Maybe I still do, and I'm sorry. But I'm willing to bet a million dollars that I was way worse back then XD. | | |
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