Ramblings, some whining about singing, and recs
...Bradley is slowly but surely dominating my userpics. Bless him. He's such a lovable person :3 Loved his comment about Merlin slash fics that was shared by feilongfan. It might be a comment that was to be expected since he was a professional, but the fact that he was open to that and more or less reacted positively to it made me love him more (he hadn't read the fics though, I wonder about his comment of the RPF X3)
Anyway, yesterday I went out with (again) slashy_lady along with voidvlex. It was fun, though my wallet was hurting with all the expenses, and my patience was running thin because all of the bullying that my two dear friends gave to me they said that it showed their affection. Yeah, right, they just loved to bully me T_T I sympathized Merlin for that aspect. We bought Haagen Dazs, and talked about our life in general, er, our friends' life (aka gossiping XP), palmistry, ancestry bloodline, motivational poster (in which I gushed about andropovka's Merlin motivational poster that included Freud and his symbolism from here), make fun of innuendo (in which I didn't participate greatly aside from snorting, be the victim, and/or made exasperated sound), body fat, and the reason why they loved to bully me.
At the end of it, I bought a singing tipbook at Kinokuniya to join my quite growing number of book related to music, which was expensive, but personally worth it because it was concise, and did not make my head hurt much. I hesitated a bit when deciding to buy the book, since my wallet need a break from all the shopping, but I felt that I needed it. I don't sing professionally, only a choir that only sang at the faculty once in a while--sometimes we get paid, more often we're not; however, singing was a part of my life. It changed lately though, I got sore throat more often than not, and it physically hurt me to sing more than before.
I just realized after I was recording for the Escaflowne karaoke challenge that beside hurting, my voice was lowering in quality (not that it was that great before). I have a lower stamina in singing, my throat got sore more easily, my low notes were out-of-tune, and my voice sounded pinched. I thought that it was because of flu, but even after I had regained my health, the sore throat was back again after three attempts of singing Hikari no Naka e with its default pitch.
The newly bought book proved itself to be quite useful for informing me that it might happen because I didn't sing with a correct technique. Usually, I used my diaphragm by instinct, especially for songs that needed power or high notes like er, Inner Universe or Canta per Me. But upon testing myself, that instinctive act was not present. I used my chest to breathe, not my diaghragm. That was what hurting my voice.
I don't know why it happened, or how I could fix it. I'm guessing that it all happened because it's been so long since I last sang for my choir, so it's been so long since I properly had a voice warming up too. Since my throat was sore now because of various things; including the effort of singing some songs for the karaoke challenge, I decided to rest it and let it heal. I just hope that I can heal it before the challenge's deadline. I've finished one song, but not very pleased of the result, and I want to submit more... XD
Now that I'm done whining (again), now I'm presenting you with some recommendations. I think that I might do this twice or thrice per week, if not almost everyday until I had entered univ / found a job. I think I would randomly recommended things that I love at the present, including albums, songs, musicians, fanfics, (maybe) fanarts, mangas (yaoi/shounen/shoujo/whatever), sites, anything. I based it all subjectively on my taste and my memory, so there might be a fanfic that was brilliantly written but was skipped because it's not suited my taste or I forgot all about it :P For multi-chapter fanfics, I might not inform you for updates or rec it before it ends--depending on the epicness of the chapter... Lastly, er, be prepared for the randomness, I might use the word 'recommendations' to flail like an idiot fangirl or an excuse to gush X3
Code Geass: fanfic
Swimming Lessons by snowdevil_crow
mild SuzaLulu |PG | slight shota (not sexual), Suza and Lulu as children
Comments:
God, it's been so long since I read fanfics about Suzaku and Lelouch as a children. This fic reminded me of CG's second sound drama, in which Suzaku played with Lelouch, and Lelouch, as the kind older brother, was worried about Nunnally all the time. I missed them *sob* The fic itself was cute ♥
Crimson by snowdevil_crow
Gen | er, G? | set sometime between Turn 21 and Turn 22.
Comments:
Ohoho, I love it when someone questioned Lelouch's fashion sense, especially when its bitter!Suzaku X3
1-3 sentences meme by slashy_lady
SuzaLulu | range from G - R | a theme contained major death character
Comment:
The batch contained a SuzaLulu, a D18, and a KandaAllen. I wouldn't want to make slashy_lady's ego bloated (as if it's not big enough already), but the batch deserved attention since she didn't want to post this into the comm.
Anyway, this batch was brilliant in its angstness and sap in its fluffiness. #1 was a brilliant bittersweet as an opening theme; #2 would have my support if it's expanded (vampire!Lulu? yummy); #3 & #7 made me snort and grin like an idiot; #4 was ...really plausible; #5, #6, #8 was personally labeled as sap (the latter was a bit bittersweet, though the sap dominated it); #9 broke my heart in a brilliant way; and #10 made me smirk and almost fantasize smut in Lancelot's cockpit.
------
d.gray-man: fanfic
1-3 sentences meme by slashy_lady
KandaAllen | ranged from G - R | one theme implied crossdress planning
Comment:
If you haven't read this in the Code Geass part: the batch contained a SuzaLulu, a D18, and a KandaAllen. I wouldn't want to make slashy_lady's ego bloated (as if it's not big enough already), but the batch deserved attention since she didn't want to post this into the comm.
Anyway, this batch was definitely my favorite. Really, SL, though your SuzaLulu and D18 are great, your KandaAllen really suited my taste X3. Loved it all--#1 made my heart heavy, #2 was always my favorite cliche AU, #3 ...still have typo touched my favoritism to sly!Allen, #4 touched my er, supernatural kink, #5,#6,& #7 made me went 'awwww', #8 made me want to read their mission together, #9 & #10 was pretty hot with little words.
------
Katekyou Hitman Reborn: fanfic
D18 drabble batch by jusrecht
D18 | er, PG-13 to R | different warnings for different labels--one with fem!Hibari, one with crossdressing
Comments:
There were three drabbles here--since I'm too lazy to put it into separate sections, I'll just condense it here; all of them portrayed the dark world of mafia, all of them showed Hibari's power, all of them were brilliant XD
1-3 sentences meme by slashy_lady
D18 | range from G - R | a theme contained major death character
Comment:
If you haven't read this in the Code Geass & d.gray-man part: the batch contained a SuzaLulu, a D18, and a KandaAllen. I wouldn't want to make slashy_lady's ego bloated (as if it's not big enough already), but the batch deserved attention since she didn't want to post this into the comm.
Anyway, #1 broke my heart with a brilliant way; #2 gave a welcomed mental image; #3 made me LOL'd; #4 felt so Hibari; #5, #9, and #10 gave a yummy mental image; #6 was bordering to sap; #7 made me want to say 'aww Kyouya, you're so cute ♥'; and #8 made me nod my head in agreement for their relationship's description.
------
Merlin
Children Die of the Imagination by commendaces
ArthurMerlin | PG | future fic; implicated minor character's death, minor spoilers for eps 1x13
Summary from the author:
An enchanted forest, a cursed sleeper, a young king, and a quest. AKA: An Arthur-seeks-Merlin fic.
Comments:
The fic incorporated epicness and sweetness together; and it was fairytale like. The author's writing style was also lovable. The real charm for me, though, was the glee inducing last line XD
Borrowed Time by nightrider101
ArthurMerlin | PG | semi-AU, WIP
Comments:
It was a multi-chapter fic, but the first chapter was enough already for me to say that the fic looked promising. The characterization was fabulous (I love witty!Arthur), the plot promised to be on the hurt/comfort side (mm... love that genre), and it hit my curiosity at the right spot.
Until I Die He Will Not Leave My Side by crazyace86
MerlinArthur | PG | hurt/comfort
Summary from the author:
Arthur was in pain, and it wasn't a pain he could heal with magic or any of Gaius's elixirs or even just by being his usual clumsy, ridiculous self that nearly always made Arthur laugh or at least roll his eyes towards Heaven with an expression of affectionate exasperation.
Comments:
I really love the description of Arthur injuring, with Merlin trying to comfort him. This fic cut deeper for this issue because it was more or less focused on the comforting part, not more, and not less. The implication of their relationship looked more like a bonus that made my heart melted more ♥
It's All Fun and Games (Until Someone Turns into a Squirrel) by toestastegood
ArthurMerlin | PG | Vampire!AU
Comment:
A part of the Scent!Verse. I love this AU, and though I personally think it was not as epic as the other parts, this part was cute ♥ XDD
AU!Batman verse by stripedpetunia
the Dark Night | North American Songbirds as Ranked by Fierceness
ArthurMerlin | R | Superhero!AU, (still) pre-slash, WIP
Comment:
mmm...Thinking about Batman!Arthur was really indeed wonderful; what's more wonderful was reading the growing relationship between Merlin and Arthur here XDD
Romcom, with Sheep XDD by allothi
ArthurMerlin | PG | future!AU
Comment:
Oh God, I definitely love jealous!Arthur. Their banter here was definitely magnificent; the magical sheep was a cracky bonus XD
I'm colorblind, kid by brbsoulnomming
1 | 2
ArthurMerlin | R to be safe | doggy!Arthur
Comment:
This fic really made my day at the time I read it ♥ Everything there were almost perfect, and doggy!Arthur? It's a big incentive to read this fic XDDD I still want to pet doggy!Arthur..
the way out is through by derryere
Arthur/Merlin | R | semi-AU
Summary from the author:
When Arthur and Merlin go to drop Mordred they are followed by Uther's knights and all the druids are massacred and the three have to run with a bounty on their head.
Comment:
...with this kind of fic, I can never really hate Mordred (not that I had hated him before). Mordred was so cute here, more or less look like he's Arthur and Merlin son. The couple themselves was gradually fixing their relationship from worse to better.
------
crossover TRC-X/1999: fanfic
Madness, Thy Constant Companion by lucid_babbles
implied SubaruSeishirou, KuroFai | er, PG | angst, implication of major character death, future!fic
Summary:
Fai and Subaru meet.
Comment:
This fic was beautiful in its angst, telling a story about insane!Subaru that met insane!Fai.
------
Hetalia: Doujin
Official Doujinshi, scanalated by gomidog
Comment:
Well, it's an official doujin made by Himaruya himself. Nevertheless, the who-made-condom argument really cracked me up ♥ ♥ ♥
-------
Well, that's it. Please tell me if there's any wrong/broken link, since I haven't double-checked it yet.
Have a nice day everyone~
Anyway, yesterday I went out with (again) slashy_lady along with voidvlex. It was fun, though my wallet was hurting with all the expenses, and my patience was running thin because all of the bullying that my two dear friends gave to me they said that it showed their affection. Yeah, right, they just loved to bully me T_T I sympathized Merlin for that aspect. We bought Haagen Dazs, and talked about our life in general, er, our friends' life (aka gossiping XP), palmistry, ancestry bloodline, motivational poster (in which I gushed about andropovka's Merlin motivational poster that included Freud and his symbolism from here), make fun of innuendo (in which I didn't participate greatly aside from snorting, be the victim, and/or made exasperated sound), body fat, and the reason why they loved to bully me.
At the end of it, I bought a singing tipbook at Kinokuniya to join my quite growing number of book related to music, which was expensive, but personally worth it because it was concise, and did not make my head hurt much. I hesitated a bit when deciding to buy the book, since my wallet need a break from all the shopping, but I felt that I needed it. I don't sing professionally, only a choir that only sang at the faculty once in a while--sometimes we get paid, more often we're not; however, singing was a part of my life. It changed lately though, I got sore throat more often than not, and it physically hurt me to sing more than before.
I just realized after I was recording for the Escaflowne karaoke challenge that beside hurting, my voice was lowering in quality (not that it was that great before). I have a lower stamina in singing, my throat got sore more easily, my low notes were out-of-tune, and my voice sounded pinched. I thought that it was because of flu, but even after I had regained my health, the sore throat was back again after three attempts of singing Hikari no Naka e with its default pitch.
The newly bought book proved itself to be quite useful for informing me that it might happen because I didn't sing with a correct technique. Usually, I used my diaphragm by instinct, especially for songs that needed power or high notes like er, Inner Universe or Canta per Me. But upon testing myself, that instinctive act was not present. I used my chest to breathe, not my diaghragm. That was what hurting my voice.
I don't know why it happened, or how I could fix it. I'm guessing that it all happened because it's been so long since I last sang for my choir, so it's been so long since I properly had a voice warming up too. Since my throat was sore now because of various things; including the effort of singing some songs for the karaoke challenge, I decided to rest it and let it heal. I just hope that I can heal it before the challenge's deadline. I've finished one song, but not very pleased of the result, and I want to submit more... XD
Now that I'm done whining (again), now I'm presenting you with some recommendations. I think that I might do this twice or thrice per week, if not almost everyday until I had entered univ / found a job. I think I would randomly recommended things that I love at the present, including albums, songs, musicians, fanfics, (maybe) fanarts, mangas (yaoi/shounen/shoujo/whatever), sites, anything. I based it all subjectively on my taste and my memory, so there might be a fanfic that was brilliantly written but was skipped because it's not suited my taste or I forgot all about it :P For multi-chapter fanfics, I might not inform you for updates or rec it before it ends--depending on the epicness of the chapter... Lastly, er, be prepared for the randomness, I might use the word 'recommendations' to flail like an idiot fangirl or an excuse to gush X3
Code Geass: fanfic
Swimming Lessons by snowdevil_crow
mild SuzaLulu |PG | slight shota (not sexual), Suza and Lulu as children
Comments:
God, it's been so long since I read fanfics about Suzaku and Lelouch as a children. This fic reminded me of CG's second sound drama, in which Suzaku played with Lelouch, and Lelouch, as the kind older brother, was worried about Nunnally all the time. I missed them *sob* The fic itself was cute ♥
Crimson by snowdevil_crow
Gen | er, G? | set sometime between Turn 21 and Turn 22.
Comments:
Ohoho, I love it when someone questioned Lelouch's fashion sense, especially when its bitter!Suzaku X3
1-3 sentences meme by slashy_lady
SuzaLulu | range from G - R | a theme contained major death character
Comment:
The batch contained a SuzaLulu, a D18, and a KandaAllen. I wouldn't want to make slashy_lady's ego bloated (as if it's not big enough already), but the batch deserved attention since she didn't want to post this into the comm.
Anyway, this batch was brilliant in its angstness and sap in its fluffiness. #1 was a brilliant bittersweet as an opening theme; #2 would have my support if it's expanded (vampire!Lulu? yummy); #3 & #7 made me snort and grin like an idiot; #4 was ...really plausible; #5, #6, #8 was personally labeled as sap (the latter was a bit bittersweet, though the sap dominated it); #9 broke my heart in a brilliant way; and #10 made me smirk and almost fantasize smut in Lancelot's cockpit.
------
d.gray-man: fanfic
1-3 sentences meme by slashy_lady
KandaAllen | ranged from G - R | one theme implied crossdress planning
Comment:
If you haven't read this in the Code Geass part: the batch contained a SuzaLulu, a D18, and a KandaAllen. I wouldn't want to make slashy_lady's ego bloated (as if it's not big enough already), but the batch deserved attention since she didn't want to post this into the comm.
Anyway, this batch was definitely my favorite. Really, SL, though your SuzaLulu and D18 are great, your KandaAllen really suited my taste X3. Loved it all--#1 made my heart heavy, #2 was always my favorite cliche AU, #3 ...still have typo touched my favoritism to sly!Allen, #4 touched my er, supernatural kink, #5,#6,& #7 made me went 'awwww', #8 made me want to read their mission together, #9 & #10 was pretty hot with little words.
------
Katekyou Hitman Reborn: fanfic
D18 drabble batch by jusrecht
D18 | er, PG-13 to R | different warnings for different labels--one with fem!Hibari, one with crossdressing
Comments:
There were three drabbles here--since I'm too lazy to put it into separate sections, I'll just condense it here; all of them portrayed the dark world of mafia, all of them showed Hibari's power, all of them were brilliant XD
1-3 sentences meme by slashy_lady
D18 | range from G - R | a theme contained major death character
Comment:
If you haven't read this in the Code Geass & d.gray-man part: the batch contained a SuzaLulu, a D18, and a KandaAllen. I wouldn't want to make slashy_lady's ego bloated (as if it's not big enough already), but the batch deserved attention since she didn't want to post this into the comm.
Anyway, #1 broke my heart with a brilliant way; #2 gave a welcomed mental image; #3 made me LOL'd; #4 felt so Hibari; #5, #9, and #10 gave a yummy mental image; #6 was bordering to sap; #7 made me want to say 'aww Kyouya, you're so cute ♥'; and #8 made me nod my head in agreement for their relationship's description.
------
Merlin
Children Die of the Imagination by commendaces
ArthurMerlin | PG | future fic; implicated minor character's death, minor spoilers for eps 1x13
Summary from the author:
An enchanted forest, a cursed sleeper, a young king, and a quest. AKA: An Arthur-seeks-Merlin fic.
Comments:
The fic incorporated epicness and sweetness together; and it was fairytale like. The author's writing style was also lovable. The real charm for me, though, was the glee inducing last line XD
Borrowed Time by nightrider101
ArthurMerlin | PG | semi-AU, WIP
Comments:
It was a multi-chapter fic, but the first chapter was enough already for me to say that the fic looked promising. The characterization was fabulous (I love witty!Arthur), the plot promised to be on the hurt/comfort side (mm... love that genre), and it hit my curiosity at the right spot.
Until I Die He Will Not Leave My Side by crazyace86
MerlinArthur | PG | hurt/comfort
Summary from the author:
Arthur was in pain, and it wasn't a pain he could heal with magic or any of Gaius's elixirs or even just by being his usual clumsy, ridiculous self that nearly always made Arthur laugh or at least roll his eyes towards Heaven with an expression of affectionate exasperation.
Comments:
I really love the description of Arthur injuring, with Merlin trying to comfort him. This fic cut deeper for this issue because it was more or less focused on the comforting part, not more, and not less. The implication of their relationship looked more like a bonus that made my heart melted more ♥
It's All Fun and Games (Until Someone Turns into a Squirrel) by toestastegood
ArthurMerlin | PG | Vampire!AU
Comment:
A part of the Scent!Verse. I love this AU, and though I personally think it was not as epic as the other parts, this part was cute ♥ XDD
AU!Batman verse by stripedpetunia
the Dark Night | North American Songbirds as Ranked by Fierceness
ArthurMerlin | R | Superhero!AU, (still) pre-slash, WIP
Comment:
mmm...Thinking about Batman!Arthur was really indeed wonderful; what's more wonderful was reading the growing relationship between Merlin and Arthur here XDD
Romcom, with Sheep XDD by allothi
ArthurMerlin | PG | future!AU
Comment:
Oh God, I definitely love jealous!Arthur. Their banter here was definitely magnificent; the magical sheep was a cracky bonus XD
I'm colorblind, kid by brbsoulnomming
1 | 2
ArthurMerlin | R to be safe | doggy!Arthur
Comment:
This fic really made my day at the time I read it ♥ Everything there were almost perfect, and doggy!Arthur? It's a big incentive to read this fic XDDD I still want to pet doggy!Arthur..
the way out is through by derryere
Arthur/Merlin | R | semi-AU
Summary from the author:
When Arthur and Merlin go to drop Mordred they are followed by Uther's knights and all the druids are massacred and the three have to run with a bounty on their head.
Comment:
...with this kind of fic, I can never really hate Mordred (not that I had hated him before). Mordred was so cute here, more or less look like he's Arthur and Merlin son. The couple themselves was gradually fixing their relationship from worse to better.
------
crossover TRC-X/1999: fanfic
Madness, Thy Constant Companion by lucid_babbles
implied SubaruSeishirou, KuroFai | er, PG | angst, implication of major character death, future!fic
Summary:
Fai and Subaru meet.
Comment:
This fic was beautiful in its angst, telling a story about insane!Subaru that met insane!Fai.
------
Hetalia: Doujin
Official Doujinshi, scanalated by gomidog
Comment:
Well, it's an official doujin made by Himaruya himself. Nevertheless, the who-made-condom argument really cracked me up ♥ ♥ ♥
-------
Well, that's it. Please tell me if there's any wrong/broken link, since I haven't double-checked it yet.
Have a nice day everyone~