Happy New Year!

Happy New Year!

Hello my dear lurkers! It's been a while. I've pretty much been doing nothing. In fact, I almost forgot about this blog completely.

I've realised that I keep deleting some entries I've made because sometimes I feel like what I posted was really pointless or too personal. I still want this blog to be interesting and relevant, and it's hard to do that if I keep ranting about silly things in my life, haha.

I'll be making trivial personal posts on my Tumblr blog. The kind that's like "argh, I have so much homework" or "today I did this and that". I will only post personal stuff on here if it's something I think that's 'worthy', I guess. Or I might still publish very personal posts on here anyway because less people read my Blogspot compared to my Tumblr blog. But yeah, hopefully everything I'm posting on here will at least be of a decent length.

I have several important exams in January, so I probably won't be blogging here for a while (again). This year, I'd really like to upload a video on YouTube. Maybe a makeup tutorial, wig/makeup reviews, or maybe even a gaming commentary (ha!). Just something.

Well then, here's some photoshopped photos of me just because! :D

...Yeah I should really practise keeping it consistent. xD I tested out a hair brush I downloaded on the bottom right picture, which is why the hair looks kind of strange.

Thank you to whoever's been keeping up with my blog and my constant whining! Have an awesome 2013! :D

[Tutorial] How to change your voice live on Skype using GarageBand (Mac)

Another self-reference post. Sorry to any of my followers because I'm sure you followed me for my rants and rambles instead of these technical tutorials. :p

Soundflower
Download Soundflower.


GarageBand
Click the GarageBand menu, then click Preferences.
Change the audio output to Soundflower (2ch). Leave your mic as the audio input.

Create a new track and select "Real Instrument".
Then turn on the monitor.

My GarageBand is quite old so it might look different to yours, but they should all have the option to turn on/off the monitor.

Click "Details", which is right below the monitor option. Change your voice however you want.


Skype
Go to Preferences and set the audio input to Soundflower (2ch).

My version of Skype is also quite old, btw.

Then you should be done! :D You can try calling Skype Test Call to make sure it works.

[Tutorial] Recording ingame audio + mic separately for Mac 10.4

Lol, a nerdy post. Does this count as a tutorial? I've always thought I'd be making makeup tutorials instead. xD

This is mostly for my own self-reference. I have a Mac 10.4 and these are the programmes I downloaded in order to record ingame output and mic input separately (ie. the game sounds and the commentary are separated if you didn't get that). I did a lot of Googling to find these programmes and fiddled around to find a way of recording the two audios separately, so I hope this can help someone.

There may be an easier way of recording both audios at the same time, but I haven't found it yet so I came up with this method instead.

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Audacity:
Download the programme Audacity if you don't have it already.

Leave the settings the way it is - you don't need to change anything. It should be set on "Built-in Output" and "Built-in Microphone".

Audacity will be used to record your commentary (ie. your mic).

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Screenium:
Download Screenium.

Go to "Audio" and install "System Audio (Screenium)", AKA Soundflower. You can download other versions of Soundflower yourself if you want to, but Screenium is only compatible with the version that it tells you to install.

Once you've installed Soundflower through Screenium, you will be asked to restart your computer. After restarting, the following options shown in the above picture under "Audio" should come up. Check the box for "System Audio (Screenium)". Leave the other two built-ins unchecked.

This allows you to use Screenium to record both the screen AND the ingame audio only (sounds from your mic will not be recorded).

If you want to edit the ingame audio, you can always extract the audio from the video using iMovie HD.

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System Preference:
Now go to the Apple Menu, then click "System Preferences".
Change the "Output" to "Headphones/Built-in Output".
Change the "Input" to "Internal microphone/Built-in".

Actually, the system preference settings shouldn't make much of a difference. At least, it didn't make a difference for me - Screenium still recorded both the screen and the ingame audio, and Audacity still recorded the mic.

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Putting the video together:
Upload the audio track of your mic and the screen + ingame audio recording onto a video-editing programme of your choice. Sync both of the tracks together. And then you're done!

Losing my passion for art.

I cry so often in school. I feel like an idiot.

I'm really behind in art because I've barely been doing any of the homework. The art teacher got upset with me when she asked to see my sketchbook. She asked me why I wasn't doing the work and I didn't know what to say. Then she asked if I was having problems at home or if I just lost passion for art.

Then for some reason I started tearing up. I didn't know why. The teacher then asked to speak to me outside, and continued asking questions about why I'm not doing the work. She also asked when this started to happen and asked if it was because of her. I just kept saying that I don't know.

Then finally the teacher decided to leave the conversation there for now. While I was in the school bathroom trying to recompose myself, I started wondering why I stopped doing the work. It's not just "I'm too lazy" because I used to say that all the time last year, but I was still on schedule.

Then I realised something: I simply lost my passion for art.

I used to spend hours and hours on tonal drawings. I used to be overjoyed whenever my art homework involved drawing instead of research. I used to show off my work to my friends because I was so proud of it. I used to love just immersing myself in art, forgetting about the rest of the world.

But something changed. Something that happened right after GCSEs and before A-levels. It was the incident with my dad.

The reason why I loved drawing is because I could detach myself from reality. I remember drawing and painting with tear-filled eyes because it made me forget where I am. It was like talking to online friends - I could pretend that I'm in a different world where my dad can't bother me.

Now that my dad no longer lives with us, I've been much happier. I'm happy just sitting around at home doing nothing just because he's not around anymore. Which is why I stopped spending so much time drawing, because I'd rather do a half-assed job if it means I can spend more time with my mom and my brother. There's nothing I need to escape from anymore.

I'm not sure if that's a good or a bad thing. Being dedicated to art but have my dad around, or no longer caring about art but without my dad around. It's either my family's health and safety or my grades. It's hard to decide which is better, especially since my mom is relying on me to get a decent job so that we can buy a house in the future.

I was still a bit tearful when I returned to the art room. There's a girl who I talk to sometimes painting on her canvas next to me. She probably noticed that I've been crying but she didn't say anything. I didn't mind because I wanted to be left alone anyway, but I was a bit worried that she might think I'm stupid for crying over something so silly. Later on that day when I passed her in the corridor, I smiled at her but she immediately avoided eye contact. :( I wish she could just pretend that nothing happened because I see her as a potential friend.

I don't think it's really fair to say that I'm extremely behind on all the work though. I didn't understand what the teacher was looking for. The week before, she said that I didn't do any sketches on my developing ideas for my canvas. She also said that my artbook was missing a lot of the work we've done in class. So over the weekend, I did two sketches of developing ideas and I stuck in most of the classwork I've done. I also created a small piece of work that was inspired by a particular artist we were supposed to research and I added more analytical notes. I also did research on two artists that I haven't yet done.

But today when the teacher looked at my book, she acted as if I haven't done anything at all. She said that I should've done a lot more on the developing ideas, though last week almost the entire class haven't done anything on that.

I guess the only thing I can do is keep drawing and painting. Sigh. I don't know what I'm doing. I guess I just needed to vent. I wish I was emotionally stronger and wouldn't cry so easily.

I admit I'm possessive...

This relates to the entry I wrote 3 weeks ago about how I feel that my 'best friend' is stealing all of my friends.

You know the friend I've added on Skype a year or two ago? I haven't been mentioning her in my blog lately. We don't have any lessons together anymore apart from classics, but we don't sit together so we can't really talk. I'm worried it might be taking a toll on our friendship. D: Yesterday, both my Skype friend and my 'best friend' had a lesson together because they chose the same option for a subject. Today I suddenly felt that they're much closer now. My Skype friend was sitting in front of my during a whole-year talk and my 'best friend' talked to her about something to do with the lesson they had yesterday. My Skype friend clearly saw me sitting next to her, but she didn't say hi or react when I smiled at her. She also walked past me twice without saying hi like she usually does. I might be paranoid, but I'm scared that my 'best friend' has taken yet another one of my friends.

I don't mind too much if my 'best friend' just befriends the other people I talk to regularly, but for some reason after she befriends them, they all start distancing themselves from me. Did she say something bad to them about me that made them start to avoid me? If she is, then why is she doing this? What's the point?

This is why I try not to let my 'best friend' know about any new friends I've made, otherwise she'd just take them away somehow. A lot of people I used to talk to a lot now ignore or avoid me. Did I do something wrong? Why are they all leaving me?