M Dash 27 - Blog by Hecko X » Random Post

Personal Genki Business Card

Hecko X — Thu, 08 Jul 2010 21:26:28 +0000

I got the Genki business cards I made for myself; it’s totally kick-ass, ain’t it? 8D

Oh, and of course a very big thanks to Kaiki for advice and critical feedback! And also for helping me export the damn thing to the requirements made by the printing company OTL (I gave her a slush ice as thanks last time we hung out, hurr hurr ;P)

Add the business card design to your favourites on deviantART by clicking here

Real Life Update

Hecko X — Sat, 05 Jun 2010 02:06:35 +0000

Considering that this is a personal blog, it sure has been a while since anything about me has been written, huh? ;P My excuse is that I’ve been super busy with exams, Genki, and scanlating for OrionWave, so I just haven’t had much time for anything else. But anyway, to fill you guys in~

School has been going decently well; I’ve been passing my exams (so far), and while it hasn’t exactly been ‘with flying colours’, I’m satisfied with it. I still have one more exam to finish and then I’m done for the year. I’ve taken a leave of absence for the next two semesters since school has been frying my brain and drained me of motivation to study, so I’m gonna be working for a year and then do a bit of travelling, hopefully finally get to go to Japan and Australia! >:3

Genki has also been doing fairly well, but I seem to keep getting more work and responsibilities, so I’m probably gonna end up dead from overwork as soon as the con is over ;>.> I started out as just the information manager and webmaster + translator, kind of like last year, but ended up also becoming the cashier/accountant for the union behind Genki, the accountant for a one-man company, the make-shift event coordinator, and God knows what else (I can’t even remember) OTL

But for the time being, I’m trying to unwind a little. I’ve been way too stressed lately so haven’t been getting much sleep or even eaten, so I ended up losing like 5 kg in 1½ weeks ;>.> So now, I’m just chillaxing while studying for my last exam; Genki work is suspended for the time being (except for answering mails and managing the budget), OrionWave work is to an extent suspended (until I finish my exam), and I’m finally getting back to working on Grappler Baki. So all is good in the neighbourhood~!

Candy from Japan~

Hecko X — Fri, 28 May 2010 20:51:05 +0000

Yes, the candy from Japan has finally arrived~! 8D Here’s a pic of what I bought

From the top left, I bought:

Cratz Smokey Cheese and Almond Crackers
Baby Star Ramen, chicken flavour
Guimauve Strawberry Marshmallow Gummy
Calorie Mate Apple Jelly Drink
KitKat Strawberry Chocolate Balls (Rilakkuma)
Umeboshi Hard Candies
Starburst Chewy Candy, Cola flavour
Ramune Candy, strawberry flavour
Pocky Candy Sticks, Cola and Soda flavour
Pocky Cracker Sticks (PRETZ), Roasted Corn flavour

And now for the reviews in no particular order:

Calorie Mate Apple Jelly Drink:
I’ve been curious about these jelly drinks for a while since I’ve sometimes seen them in J-Drama and manga, so I’ve been want to try them. Apparently, they are ‘replacement meals’, in the sense that in case you are too busy to make lunch for school, you can have one of these instead. Trying to live off them instead of having a balanced diet is probably a BAD idea though!

The taste itself is pretty good actually, kinda like freshly squeezed apple juice, and the aftertaste lingers for quite a while, which is pretty yummy. The consistency, however, is absolutely disgusting! I’d imagine sucking the snot out of a sick person’s nose would have a very similar feel to it x_x

Pocky Cracker Sticks (PRETZ), Roasted Corn flavour:
SO DELICIOUS!!! The first one I had admittedly tasted a bit weird, kinda like a bread stick dipped in sweet&sour sauce, but then the smoked corn aftertaste set in and I was hooked!! I’m so getting more of these and I can recommend them to everyone who loves corn on the cob, as the aftertaste really lingers!

KitKat Strawberry Chocolate Balls (Rilakkuma):
They were actually really good; kinda like raisinettes, but bigger and strawberry flavoured. I liked them a lot, but because of the kiddy packaging, I might be embarrassed to buy them in a store ;>.>

Cratz Smokey Cheese and Almond Crackers:
Not at all what I had hoped for. First off, they aren’t even crackers with flavours, but actual almonds and dried (or deep-fried or something) cheese. The almonds are pretty bad; they’ve been roasted for far too long, so they have no real taste anymore. The cheese-things are unfortunately seasoned too much for me (I don’t like spicy stuff), but apart from that, they’re pretty good.

Ramune Candy, strawberry flavour:
Waste of money. Doesn’t taste of strawberry Ramune, you can’t really suckle on them either, and it’s essentially just flavoured powder pressed into a shape; it almost immediately turns back into powder and then dissolves when you bite down on them. They might be good for keeping your blood sugar up during a four hour written exam, but as a regular candy treat, it sucks.

Baby Star Ramen, chicken flavour:
They are actually pretty good, but they taste nothing like chicken though. Rather, they taste like slightly seasoned, thinly-sliced, deep-fried potato sticks. I used to eat that a LOT when I was a pre-teen and the aftertaste of the Baby Star Ramen is exactly the same. It’s not a snack I’d recommend for eating in public though, since they’re pretty small/thin and easily dropped, so you look… less then charming when putting them in your mouth so you won’t drop any. For home-eating, they are awesome though <33

Pocky Candy Sticks, Cola and Soda flavour:
Pretty good, but rather acidic, so probably really bad for your teeth D8 I like that with each packet, you get 6 cola flavour sticks, 6 soda flavour stick, and 2 mystery flavoured sticks~. In my case, the mystery sticks tasted kinda like Fanta (the original orange one).

Guimauve Strawberry Marshmallow Gummy:
Lovely taste of strawberry~! I didn’t like the consistency much though; the inside crumbled very oddly, considering how squishy the outside was.

Starburst Chewy Candy, Cola flavour:
When they say chewy, they damn well MEAN it!! owo;; Super duper chewy, so much that I started thinking it was gum. It wasn’t bad though, just a bit odd. Great taste of cola.

Umeboshi Hard Candies
SO GROSS!! D8 It seriously tasted like tuna or some other kind of metallic tasting fish OTL A cool touch though was that all the hard candies were individually wrapped inside the bag, and each wrapper had a short poem on them. I thought that was SO awesome!

Job Interview

Hecko X — Wed, 05 May 2010 11:56:43 +0000

So, went to a job interview today, don’t think it went well. I hope I got it though since I really need the money to get my family out of debt and also because I really want to go to Japan and Australia next year.

So in preperation for the reply, I’m gonna by a buckload of Japanese candy on eBay. If I get the job, celebration food; if I don’t get the job, comfort food. Candy, so versatile~ <3 I'll of course review the candiez, just for the fun of it :3

Candy from Japan! 8D

Hecko X — Sun, 02 May 2010 00:38:20 +0000

Oh yeaaaah, haven’t done one of these since Yuanchosaan sent me Chinese candy! 8D Anyway, about a week ago, the Twins (the ones I had the ice cream adventure with) returned from Japan and brough me back some candiez~!

The first ones I tried were the Mini-Rumando (ミニルマンド; left one on the pic). They reminded me a bit of the peanut waffer snacks Yuanchosaan bought me, but instead of a peanut waffer with dried filling, it was a regular waffer with a soft toffee filling. It was a bit weird at first since I don’t usually like waffer snacks, but the soft toffee really hit home with me so I thought this one was super awesome!!

Next, I tried the Sayaendou (さやえんどう; middle one) which means “peas”. It’s a healthy-ish snack by Calbee in a line of snacks called “Yasai snacks” (vegetable snacks), which are dried or baked (or whatever owo;; ) snacks made from veggies. This one was obviously made from peas, but they also have snacks made from maize, bell pepper, carrot, etc. The consistency is kinda ‘fluffy’, but crunchy, if that makes at all. The first few you try are gonna taste a bit odd, but as you get used to it, it’s actually quite good! I really wanna try the maize one now <33

The last one I tried was Nerunerunerune (ねるねるねるね) which I think is meant to be a pun. “Neruneru” (ねるねる) is the sound in Japan for stuff that is slimy (which it looks like), while “neru” (練る) means “to knead” which is essentially what you do to make the candy. Yes, I said “make the candy”, since it’s from a brand of a “do-it-yourself” candy. I’ve added a video to the left of a girl making it, since that’s easier than explaining it. But anyway, the one I got was with a taste of grape, but it was soooo friggin’ sour! I usually like sour candies, but in moderation, and this one was so sour that it was hurting my stomach for like two hours. And the consistency was bad too D8

Anyway, I plan on purchasing more Japanese candies and snacks soon! PREPARE FOR MORE CANDYLICIOUS REVIEWS!! >:3

New Router, Geeeet!

Hecko X — Tue, 27 Apr 2010 01:32:53 +0000

So, Internet for me has been more or less non-existant for a like a week or two now, since my router kept cutting the connection every 30-40 seconds (thank God for pre-written posts so this place didn’t die completely, huh? 8D).

Anyway, finally got a new router today. The connection still cuts every now and again, but not as frequently, and it’s a lot quicker to fix the connection than the old one was (20 seconds vs. 2-5 minutes).

In other news, I passed my retake exams and studied well for my assessment tests since my average was way too low, but now after 3 very high scores in a row, my average is good enough to pass the year. Now, if I could only pass the next 4-5 exams as well… =.=;

Damn You, Vulcanic Ash Cloud!

Hecko X — Tue, 20 Apr 2010 19:18:54 +0000

If you follow the news, you’ve undoubtably heard of the giant cloud of vulcanic ash from Iceland which is covering most of Europe and screwing over air traffic. Now, like most people, I could see how this could be annoying, but I didn’t really start caring until it started fucking with me personally! >:3

Because of the cloud, a special one-time feature of the film festival could not be flown in, which has me kind of raging since I actually had pretty good tickets to it. Instead, I get called up by the cinema during class to be informed that the event has been cancelled! /rages

Not only this, I applied for a job at the airport since I need to start saving up money to go traveling next year, but because of the vulcanic ash situation, the job drafting has been postponed indefinitely and the job offer might be taken down entirely if the situation doesn’t change.

WELL PLAYED, VULCANO!! WELL PLAYED!! D8<

Exams Are Annoying! >:3

Hecko X — Sun, 11 Apr 2010 09:32:22 +0000

Lulz! Long time no… errr… something! I’ve been busy the last few days with exams so I’ve had no time for that much else. I’m still kinda busy since I have a test tomorrow and then another one next monday, but at least I have a few hours to myself each day, AND NOT A MOMENT TOO SOON!! Btw, isn’t the drawing on the right just awesome!? I unfortunately don’t know who drew it T^T

Anyway, because of exams, I had to give up a few things. For one thing, I had to take a break from Genki, so I currently have no idea of what’s going on. I will have to get up to date during our short meeting during the hanami festival.

Also, I decided to quit Academy of Heroes on dA because when the assignments finally came, I just didn’t have the time or drive to finish them. I’ve decided to keep Blaze alive though, so he might still pop up every now and again.

But yeah~! Hopefully, the next two tests will go smoothly and I’ll be able to go to the end-of-the-year exams without too many problems!

Muki Rises from the Ashes!!

Hecko X — Tue, 23 Mar 2010 19:34:09 +0000

Yes, it is in deed the grand return of Murasaki-kun >:3 As you can see, I dyed my hair purple yet again, since my last awesomesauce dye-job was foiled by my mother forcing me to get a hair cut… =_=; Curses for not being able to cook myself! It’s a way too easily exploitable weakness >_<

Bleached	Purple

Also, sorry for the lack of posting. Between having to go fill out papers at the police station, city hall, transport services, student loan services, etc. since my wallet was stolen (all my personal IDs and creditcards were stolen as well) and school, not to mention QCing for OrionWave, I’ve been kinda busy ^^’

Now with LiveStream

Hecko X — Thu, 21 Jan 2010 19:45:39 +0000

I recently got an LS account so that other people could ‘tune in’ whenever I was drawing or doing sharing-worthy stuff. I’m on mostly late evenings around midnight CET since that’s where my Internet connection is mostly stabil (unless my router decides to be an über bitch…), so feel free to check in on livestream.com/heckox if you want to chat with me during the broadcast. Otherwise, just scroll to the bottom of this post for a watch.

The broadcasts are also recorded and can be streamed at any time by clicking the video thumbnails at the bottom of the site. Quality is a bit… volatile… since I’m using a laptop with only 500MB RAM, which is actually below requirements XD I’ll be switching to one with 4 times as much in future broadcasts, hopefully that helps.

If you want to know exactly when I come on, either follow me on twitter (twitter.com/HeckoX) or on deviantART (heckox.deviantart.com/) as I will post a journal/tweet whenever I begin broadcasting.

The Stream

Watch live streaming video from heckox at livestream.com

Porn Causes Massive Traffic Jam

Hecko X — Fri, 15 Jan 2010 21:31:30 +0000

This was too funny to pass up XP In case you hadn’t heard, late Thursday night, hackers hacked their way into a giant advertisment screen’s computer system in Moscow, Russia, and replaced one of the advertisments with a porn clip.

This lead to a massive traffic jam on one of Moscow’s busiest streets as automobile drivers slowed down to a halt in order to gawk at the screen (seen on the right, broadcasting regular ads). And no, I don’t know what porn it was, you pervy bastards D8

According to reports, the government found out about it within 3 minutes and managed to shut it off after around 15-20 minutes. Makes you wonder what they were doing since it took them 20 minutes just to kill the power XP

Formspring.me

Hecko X — Sun, 03 Jan 2010 03:34:07 +0000

“formspring.me is a website that is remarkably hard to describe in a funny way,” he said after trying to make a joke about it for 5 minutes.

Anywho, the concept of formspring.em is pretty simple: you create an account, people can then ask you questions (anonymously, if they want), and you answer them. Done. So it’s kinda like a website interrogation, but without the cool two-way mirror and the uncomfortable chairs.

I actually joined long ago, but never had anything to use it for and quickly forgot about it. It wasn’t until Kurikku posted on his blog that he had gotten one that I remembered my own and had it re-activated and cleared out. So, fell free to ask any questions on whatever subject you want (no profile required) at formspring.me/Hecko

Marketing Teachers

Hecko X — Fri, 27 Nov 2009 09:08:41 +0000

They show you odd things some times during marketing presentations…

Xbox 360 Avatars

Hecko X — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 01:24:29 +0000

This was a post I started a year ago (December 22, 2008) to introduce the new avatar system on the Xbox 360, but I never got around to posting it. It doesn’t really serve much of a purpose anymore, but I felt bad for it just being on my list of drafts, so I figured I’d just publish it and show off some of the avatars of my friends from a year ago.

Just for the record, I did get written permission from each of them to use their avatars, so no suing! D:< The one on the far right is mine, and yes, I did have a full-beard at the time (had forgotten my shaver in Serbia and never got around to buying a new one... >_> ).

AUCRY	Diablocon	Mymindislost	Shin Senzai	The Random KO

Twittering Away~

Hecko X — Sat, 21 Nov 2009 02:24:04 +0000

With the recent November 17 update on XBL (Xbox Live), I finally decided to jump the bandwagon (that sounds incorrect? :/ ) and join Twitter. Initially, it was just to test out how it worked on XBL and I didn’t figure I’d be using it all that often, but having since found out that I can use it on both my deviantART profile and on M Dash (instead of the former “recent thoughts/news” box in the sidebar that rarely got updated because it was such a bother) as well, I’ve decided to keep at it.

The news would be as you’d expect: Updates on game progress for those who follow me on XBL, updates on art progress for those who check on dA, and real life updates for the peepz awesome enough to read M Dash~! 8D So I’m trying to mix stuff up so there’s something for everyone.

If you have Twitter yourself, and you’d like to follow my tweets, then feel free to add me: twitter.com/HeckoX and I’ll be sure to add you right back ;3

I wish they would’ve made the features sound less stalker-ish though… =.=;

I Я #1

Hecko X — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 01:15:28 +0000

I’m currently ranked #1 on the world ranking list of Tekken 6 Survival Mode with 19 straight wins with my favourite character, Mokujin. The ranking list is exclusively for Mokujin, and it is only on Xbox Live, ~~so I have no idea of who #1 is on the PS3 version or how many there are better, if any~~ I have since found out that #1 on the PS3 version has like 46 wins. Damn Asian players being so insanely awesome D= So my record is XBL only. I expect to be beaten on XBL eventually, but for now, I rulz~.

Sick Sick Sick Sick Sick…

Hecko X — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 00:45:25 +0000

I’ve been sick of the past month, and recently, it took a turn for the worse. With my poor skillz in cooking, I probably haven’t been getting enough foodz, which has further weakened my immune system since I have no energy, and my busy schedule has also meant close to zero rest, so I simply haven’t had the time to recover, which is why I now look like a boxer the week after a match —>

Wednesday was assesment test day, so had to come to school, but left early due to a doctor’s appointment. I am told nothing other than to take some cough drops. Thursday I had school, and I’m pretty sure I had moar stuff, for the love of me, I can’t remember what I did. Friday was the big ASP Tekken Tourney from noon until early evening, followed by a Genki meeting at Allan’s from around midnight until 5AM (but it was cool, got to see Heavy and Kajsa again, which was ♥).

I was supposed to go to J-Popcon on Saturday for some Genki-related stuff, get my caps back since I forgot them at Allan’s, and to give something to Kaiki, but ditched it last second since I was going out with Nemu in the evening, which was more important to me. We watched “A Christmas Carol” with Jim Carrey ^^ It’s pretty good; awesomely animated, but I still like the Muppets version better.

Anyway, after all that, I was way fatigued, and when I woke up Sunday morning I felt like crap, and it only got worse Monday. Today, I’m still feeling like shit, but at least my fever is down. My stomach and chest are however incredibly sore from coughing and it hurts my airways and left lung whenever I breathe, so that’s quite often ;_;

Hopefully, another day’s rest will do me good, and with Nemu coming over on Thursday to teach me how to cook some dishes (which I’m really looking forward to, btw), I should be starting to get my energy back, so hopefully, I’ll be ready for school Friday, and I can finally ditch all this extra clothes I’m wearing to keep warm…

Damn Exams…

Hecko X — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 20:35:44 +0000

Exams suck ass… I spent all night making the BAAM report and damn near fried my brain (pictured) only to oversleep and not make the hand-in on time because I thought the deadline was at 11 A.M., like it is for AAAAALL the other hand-ins we have, but noooooooo, it had to be at friggin’ 10 A.M.

So what to do? I hand the crap in, rush to school for an assessment test I didn’t study for because I had to write the paper, do stuff for Genki, and a bunch of other crap, so in the end, I just signed my name on the test, handed it in without filling in anything, and got the fuck out of class.

I headed straight back to the student administration to find out where I was with the hand-in, since
a) It’s a qualifying hand-in, so you have to pass it to be allowed to take the 4-hour written exam;
b) if the hand-in is failed, you need to take a re-test so you still have a chance to qualify for the exam;
c) if you don’t hand in, you’re not allowed to do a retake;
d) if you don’t complete the exam, you get thrown out of the programme.

DOMINO EFFECT OF FRIGGIN’ DOOM!!! Luckily, they [the administration] were pretty understanding, so I was given dispensation, however, I still failed the assessment test completely, which is gonna kill my average since a blank paper is a score of not 00, but fricular -3! FUCK!! Now I might fail on that instead!

Real-Time Update

Hecko X — Sat, 17 Oct 2009 20:09:39 +0000

I’m super busy, so this is gonna be a mini-update and probably riddled with spelling errors since I don’t have time to correct shiz.

I only have a few days left before I have to hand in my BAAM assignment, and it is totally busting my balls (pic on right). It should have been pretty simple, and it is in a way, I’ve done the analysis procedures, the problem is, I’m not entirely sure what the Hell I’m looking for, so I have to re-read several chapters in my book *LE SIGH!!*

Worse is, I have no way of printing it when it’s done. I ordered my printer a week ago, they aren’t shipping out until like Monday, so I’m totally screwed on that aspect too. Gonna have to ask Aucry if he can print for me. On the bright side, when I finally do get my printer, I have an awesome drawing to scan and upload, which is ♥ or something.

Back to the stress, me and Click are doing a major overhaul on the Genki website. The ‘prototype’ has to be done in like… an hour, and the update and translations are to be done by tomorrow midnight, so I’m pretty fucked with stuff to do.

Oh yeah, did I mention studying for a Jap test on Wednesday, cause I got that shit going for me too. It looks like I’m gonna be ditching making iKnow lists for a few weeks, I never get around to using them because I’m too friggin’ tired after spending hours making them while writing notes.

Oh, and I added the pic on the left in case girls can’t sympathise with the one on the right. It’s an advertisment for shoes or bras or a cellphone, I can’t remember, but there’s a whole series of it. The one on the left is based directly off of the one on the right, since it is a pretty infamous soccer image. Well yeah, gotta jet, stuff to do.

Taking the TOEFL

Hecko X — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 07:32:53 +0000

At time of this being posted, I’ll be entering the room to take the TOEFL (Test of English as a Foreign Language) because it is necessary in order for me to go on exchange next year. This is, however, assuming that I am able to pass this school year, and prospects are looking rather grim…

Anywho, I took a shortened mock test on TOEFL’s website, and did decently well (from 60 questions, I had one wrong because I felt it was rather ambiguous), so I hope I’ll get a good score. According to website of the university I attend, concerning the scores and schools, “most good schools require a score of 550 for acceptance, while the best schools require a minimum of 600.”

In case I fail the year, it won’t all be lost though; should I be expelled from the Asian Studies Programme, I plan to sign up for the JET Programme (Japan Exchange and Teaching programme) and work as an assistent teacher in English for a year in a Japanese high school. I already have the JLPT level 3 diploma, and I have spoken with my English teacher from my gymnasium days to write a recommendation (since I sometimes teach his classes anyway), so hopefully, I’ll get to Japan eventually XP

So, wish me luck ‘n stuff =3