103rd floor glass balconies at the Sears Towers. Definitely not for those with fear of heights. Personally I haven't had any problems with heights, so this kind of structure seems exciting.

Can I finish the NaNo2008 novel before November comes around? (Editing is another matter entirely) I'll definitely try. More coincidences in the plot might help (ahem).

When will I have the time to update the layouts on my domain, when.

Saint Seiya The Lost Canvas: festivewind said ( spoiler? )

I tried Dr. Wicked's Write Or Die for the first time tonight, and made it (166 words in 8 minutes - the goal was 150 words in 10 minutes). It was fun, and I might have worked faster if I'd been writing in English. Bahasa Indonesia have such long words.
Maybe one day I'll try doing word wars.

Manga I'm still reading:
Saint Seiya The Lost Canvas: Sasha is making an unexpected move, which might bring another bishounen into the story turn out to be a double-edged sword if she's not careful or fast.
Code:Breaker: Sibling hostility a la Sasuke and Itachi? Or...?

I watched the Star Trek movie. As a movie it's pretty exciting, with an enjoyable cast, but I can clearly see why some of the hardcore Trekkies are disappointed.

Reposting links from my Facebook:
Why the opening is important in a novel.
Short-version trailer for Yitian Dulong Ji/Heaven Sword Dragon Saber 2009, scheduled for release in August or September. The long trailer is here.
Since this is a Zhang Jizhong production:
the dramatic and extravagance levels are bound to be significantly upped;
there will be lots of qinggong, i.e. people flying endlessly over trees, houses, bodies of water, animals, other people, etc.
I'm still not impressed with Ady An as Zhao Min, but Zhang Jizhong usually manages to choose the right actress for the female lead, so I'll just wait and see.

NaNo is still five months away, and I'm already thinking up ideas. I'm only worried that none of the stories would want to stop at 50k.

10 tips for getting good sleep. What do you mean no caffeine after 6 p.m.? -_-

So far watching Heaven Sword Dragon Saber 1986 to help me move on with the NaNo 2008 novel has worked. But I'm only a few episodes away from the end. What should I do after the final episode? Options:
+ Watch it again from the start. Okay, maybe not. Look for another wuxia series?
+ Use Write or Die to boost the wordcount, since I never have done so.

I have too much catching up to do in summerwrite2 so maybe I'll just have to forget that one. *hangs head in shame* But maybe the getyourwordsout target is still salvageable.

Strange Horizons, an SFF online magazine, lists the kind of stories they see too often. It can serve as a rough guide, if nothing else.

sea_sff is a community for Southeast Asian SFF fans, and the sister community at DW is fen_at_sea.

Writing is really hard work--mostly because thinking is really hard work. When you don't want to do that work, but you want the meager payment it offers, the fleeting fame it brings, than you resort to thinking on the cheap.

From here.
An Indonesian writer of historical novels once said on TV said that writing brings more than enough money to live on. I'll try to keep remembering that. Because I do want to earn a living from there. But when it's night and not only I'm tired but also nursing a slight headache, I know I have to go to bed early if I want to wake up feeling better in the morning. And early bedtime means no writing done. (Or maybe I can reduce the headache with coffee? Hm)

But anyway! I'm satisfied with the Avatar moodtheme I made for lilacfield. It's been a while since I made my own moodtheme. The series itself is highly recommended, btw.

I was just trying out a new writing method: I don't map out the details about the characters - what's important is pushing the plot forward. Then I saw this: How to Write Fast, and wonder if I can sum up the courage to BS my way through yet-to-be-researched details. My mentality is the sort that wants to get things right, or at least close to right, the first time.
Anyway, there's always Write or Die.

team7 has moved to DW (I still don't know the code for writing a DW account in LJ).

ETA:

When besieged by work, my first instinct is to post a fic request meme. I'm not sure what that says about me. Though that might not be a bad idea either, since it might help boost my wordcount. I'm way behind in summerwrite2.

My DW account has more readers than heaven_sword. *tilts head* But I still love this journal, and the name.

My allergy seems to have subsided. Can I have coffee now?

Silver Phoenix is a YA novel that will be published on April 28. The link will lead you to the trailer on YouTube. The story seems to be of the wuxia-fantasy genre. Which convinces me that yes, it's okay to write something like that. The facilitators, so to speak, exist anyway - there's verb_noire, for instance, and Fantasist (got this one from readerofasaph).

It's World Book Day: what are you reading? My current read is the final book of Stephen King's Dark Tower series (might as well finish 'em all). I'm on page 450-ish. In the recent years he has a tendency to ramble, but not here. His idea of blending dimensions, including ours, is interesting, though I do wish he'd stop tooting his own horn. Or maybe it's a tongue-in-cheek thing.

Since Wednesday I've been on a diet where I don't eat rice - one of Indonesia's staple foods - and meat. The purpose is to get rid of an allergy I've been suffering from since 2005. I'm also drinking soya milk. The diet is supposed to last for a week but may continue longer when it proves effective or necessary.

I've finished reading entries for the Asian Women Blog Carnival. They made me think that I may be guilty of fetishizing an Other - I write wuxia, don't I? Tbh, I'm not really in touch with my own cultural heritage. My parents spoke Javanese to each other but never taught the kids to speak it. They never took us to see wayang or other forms of Javanese arts. My father had cassettes of wayang performances, and he never told his kids to listen to them as well. I wouldn't say I'm cultureless - it's more like I choose what culture I'd like to be in, and being Javanese is just something I was born as. If that makes sense. *has an inherent fear that she indulges too much in the stream-of-consciousness type of personal discourse*

Hey, this is river-runs-east, renamed. I've always thought that username was too clunky, and thus, a new one.

Um, that's all.

These past few days I've been reading almost nonstop. One thing I learned is that I can read e-books comfortably on my cell phone, provided the font is big enough, but nothing beats holding an actual printed-and-bound book in my hands.

The legislative election has come and gone, and the ruling party is garnering the most votes. Are we comfortable where we are, or something?

Like most of fandom, I really like the new Shippuuden opening, though I don't care for the "sha-la-la" part.

luckychan tagged me for the 5 things meme.
( The five things )

Grab the book nearest you. Right now. Turn to page 56. Find the fifth sentence. Post that sentence along with these instructions in your LiveJournal. Don't dig for your favorite book, the coolest, the most intellectual. Use the CLOSEST.

LJ, I don't appreciate it if you don't show all the entries that are supposed to show up on my fpage, especially if I happen to pay for your service. *wags finger*

It's worthwhile doing this quiz once in a while, because sometimes the result comes up cool, like this.

Indonesia is edging closer toward the legislative election, and politicians bashing each other on campaigns is strongly reminiscent of fandom. The difference is, while fandom can't be run by a certain group of people (however much some would like that to happen), a country can.

Anyway, on to the real reason of the post: Saint Seiya The Lost Canvas trailer.
( Behind the cut )

Current Meitantei Conan chapters refer to Chinese classics. Eve approves. *giggles over Yamato*

Tagged for the 5 things meme by sub_divided, who gave me: wuxia - writing challenges - shounen manga: Kekkaishi, Naruto, FMA, PoT - character studies (from shounen manga) - Indonesia.
( Warning for possible incoherency )