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Blue Of Mind
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  • I dunno why I'm stressing myself out over my uni's PhD application form... At least they're nice enough to give you an option to save and quit, so you can come back to it later. Considering there's a research statement section, having an option like that is a blessing lol.
    In the midst of all the CeVIO drama, I've forgotten that I've actually managed to write up all the text-based pieces of my dissertation super-early. Once the main chapters have been proofread again, the fun part will be trying to compile everything into one document, including title, contents page and bibliography. o_e
    I must admit, the drama surrounding Kafu has been way more interesting than whatever the latest bullshit is seeping out of Vocaloid Twitter.
    peaches2217
    peaches2217
    For me, it’s largely because most of the blame is on Kafu’s team; the drama didn’t come from fans blowing things out of proportion or anything like that. It’s a genuine fuck-up on the part of the creators, and it’s such an entertaining train wreck.
    uncreepy
    uncreepy
    I'm glad someone is enjoying it, because the whole thing made me feel like my last remaining brain cells died. :{ I saw a Japanese synth user saying this wasn't a good precedent for non-synth fans (aka normies) finding out about AI synthesis... English side of Twitter seems to have stopped talking about KAFU already, but Japanese side is still on about it.
    peaches2217
    peaches2217
    Eh, I honestly don’t think it’ll affect outsider opinion too much. Realistically, who’s introduced to vocalsynths through CeVIO, and who charges into AI synthesis headfirst? It’s still pretty new and niche, after all. So I honestly wouldn’t stress too much.
    I bought a pair of real leather gloves yesterday, and since then my dog has been going nuts barking non-stop at them, even when he can't see them because the leather scent on them is really strong. :/

    (He's a rescue dog who was found as a stray, so I'm guessing his previous owners used to hit him with gloves. He also has a similar reaction to my combat boots (not real leather, but my dog flinches whenever I put them on), so I'm guessing he was kicked as well).
    KizelFox
    KizelFox
    Aww, the poor baby! My dog (also a rescue) was once reluctant to chase balls and things, she'd run away if I so much as lifted my arm to throw them, so I'm guessing she had stuff thrown at her by her previous owners. It's absolutely horrible the things some people do to animals.
    I sent an enquiry email to the PhD department at my uni yesterday explaining the idea I want to do with them, but they haven't got back to me yet. I know they're probably super-busy with induction week for the PhD candidates (plus Covid arrangements on top of that), but it's still making me anxious because I don't know how they will respond to my idea. :(
    Blue Of Mind
    Blue Of Mind
    UPDATE: They got back to me around 2PM today, and they said they liked my idea! I later asked them about the application process, and they said while there's no hard or fast rules about stuff like word counts, they recommended somewhere between 600 and 1,000 words (including bibliography - I guess my uni is more of a "skim over ideas quickly" place compared to other institution that want a full 2,000 to 3,000 word proposal immediately) if I wasn't sure. They also recommended to talk to my mentors about the application process, so hopefully I can talk to them about it next week. (They don't work on weekends).

    This is actually the happiest I've been in a while. My mom and stepdad are pleased as well. :overjoyed:
    "I've just finished writing up the third chapter of my disseration! I'm totally on a roll!"
    >Glances over previous chapters.
    >Realises they now read like crap and need a good hour or so of revision.
    >Still has a long-ass lierature review to write up.
    "...Now I remember how stressed I was during my undergrad dissertation." orz
    My old college has already had two confirmed cases of Covid. Now I'm really worried about my uni, because even though I can't physically return to campus, undergraduates are supposed to be coming in for inductions next week, and you know how colds and flu spread rapidly among students as it is...
    Miss Otaku
    Miss Otaku
    I know if i catch ill be alright cause im still a kiddo. But what about parents...
    Sooo... My mentors at uni have just told me that I still can't have physical meetings with them and return to campus, because my uni is trying to reduce the amount of staff on-site at one time as a Covid precaution. Sounds like I'm doing my entire dissertation remotely when I was hoping it wouldn't be the case. :/
    Can anyone here recommend me ideas for good, free antivirus programs? AVG has glitched out on me again after a botched update, and now I'm officially burned out on it after dealing with its increased bloatedness, glitches and in-app ads for years. A real life friend recommended just using Windows Defender and Malwarebytes for extra security, but I still don't trust Windows to do a really good job at protecting my PC. ^^;

    I've been eyeing up the free version of Kaspersky, but I'm open to other suggestions.
    peaches2217
    peaches2217
    Kaspersky is what I use! It’s really good, good enough that I’m almost considering the paid version.
    Blue Of Mind
    Blue Of Mind
    @peaches2217 Just downloaded Kaspersky, and I'm liking it so far. But I'm not sure why it installed the Secure Connection application considering I don't use VPNs. Does it just come bundled with the free version of the antivirus?
    I haven't had official confirmation from my uni yet because most of the lecturers are still on holiday, but it looks like I might have done better on my final essay than expected - I've only just noticed that a fairly high grade has turned up on my uni account. :)
    Decided to finally experiment with different browsers after Firefox decided to slow down and lock up for the umpteenth time... Currently trying out Opera on my desktop, tablet and phone. I love how fast it is on all three, and it comes with a built in adblocker, but I've noticed it doesn't work properly on YouTube on desktop, so I'm still using uBlock Origin for now. (The Android version seems to work fine on YT when it comes to adblocking).
    I would have posted this in the Unpopular Opinions thread, but after typing it all up, I didn't think what I said would fit well with that thread, so I'm posting it on my profile underneath a spoiler, since it's gonna get a bit long.

    Yes, the 'Vocaloid is dead' mantra again. I'm certain everyone is sick of other people beating that dead horse. But this time, I've been thinking if people have been saying that because of how the Western fandom behaves, and whether or not it's caused a negative feedback loop that's forced people to ditch Vocaloid.

    This was inspired by a few posts elsewhere on here complaining about the behaviour of certain Western producers (I won't name anyone because I don't want to start drama here). Since the Western Vocaloid fandom is still smaller on average in terms of active producers and overall fandom, and said producers sometimes collaborate with each other, it definitely creates an impression of a small "elite" monopolising attention to themselves within the Western fandom. So whenever drama kicks off concerning popular Western producers, almost everyone in the Western fandom hears about it, and it spreads to here. The Japanese fandom, although it has its own problems with drama too, doesn't seem to have to deal with the same kind of bullshit the Western fandom has to put up with on a regular basis, because it's larger, more firmly established, and there are a lot of producers working in the Japanese scene to this day.

    In fact, I think the problems with Western Vocaloid producers are part of the reason why Vocaloid hasn't become more "mainstream" (outside of artists like Porter Robinson) yet. Many Western producers unfortunately act unprofessional at times, which doesn't give any outsiders looking into the producer side of Vocaloid a good impression of the Western/English-speaking side. Of course, Robinson was already working in the music industry by the time he dropped 'Sad Machine', so him using Avanna didn't exactly pigeonhole him as a niche Vocaloid producer instead of a general EDM producer.

    The more ordinary members of the Western fandom don't always help either. I think I've said before (or maybe someone else did and I'm misremembering) that Vocaloid has always had a reputation of being a "weeaboo" fandom. I'm old enough to remember the Golden V2/V3 years, and even back then, saying you were a Vocaloid fan was tantamount to admitting you were a weeaboo in some circles. :tongue: And believe me, I do remember a lot of the antics the more immature side of the Vocaloid fandom at the time would get up to. Mainly just stupid shipping wars and misinterpreting songs, but still. As the Western fandom developed a negative reputation, eventually some people either left the fandom out of embarassment, or just outgrew the fandom entirely and forgot about Vocaloid. Then these older fans are shocked to learn that Vocaloid is on V5 and the Cryptonloids are in the process of moving to an original engine. ^^;

    TL;DR: The Western fandom probably "killed off" Vocaloid by negative association for other Westerners (mainly Western anime fans, but still).
    I've finished writing up the first chapter of my dissertation! (Well, I still need to proofread it for grammar and spelling, but you know). And I managed to do it in the middle of a heatwave too. I haven't been able to work properly the last few days because of the heat, but now it's done! \^o^/
    Is it alright to feel dismayed at the way some devs have been treating their vocal synth software recently? We all know Yamaha seem to be treating Vocaloid as some kind of digital leper colony now, but seeing what's been going on with Piapro NT and CeVIO is just making me shake my head. :(

    At least SynthV seems to be doing well so far. I'm really excited to see how it does and if it picks up any more popularity.
    I've been good today - got started with the first chapter of my dissertation, and I've already written down around 400 words. It doesn't sound like much, but I have three separate sections to write out, with a self-imposed limit of 3,000 words overall for the chapter (so give or take around 800 or 900 words for all three sections), and since my writing style is very wordy, I'm impressed that I've managed to write two paragraphs under 200 words. X)
    Been feeling depressed on the internet recently, so I've been clearing out pages and accounts from both my Facebook and Instagram. So far, so good... I guess I got sick of seeing clickbait and inane comments all the time and it was driving me nuts.

    (Another reason I like VV is because everyone here is friendly and chill, and good discussions always turn up with regular frequency, which gets my brain working.)
    andantina
    andantina
    yeah i feel that, especially lately. don't be afraid to take a break from some sites entirely if you need to! it helps, believe me.
    Krin
    Krin
    i think your idea of doing a social media "clean-up" sounds like a good one. i've been feeling kinda sh*tty/depressed too lately, especially this week and last so i've been trying to slow down and take a break from things, and focus on getting my mental health back in the right place before i go back to doing everything. these months have been insane and i can't wait for things to go back to normal again :(((
    Blue Of Mind
    Blue Of Mind
    @Krin - Honestly, just cleaning out anything physical or digital helps. I sometimes clean my room out when I get depressed. I feel like I occasionally have to do cleanups of things in order to declutter my own mind and keep my personal life "neat and tidy", so to speak.
    • Like
    Reactions: Krin
    I woke up too early today, so I ended up taking a nap around 3PM because I felt tired, but when I woke up, I thought I'd ended up in a parallel universe because my brain had been frazzled from the nap.

    So yeah, that's probably the last time I'm taking an afternoon nap. Realised today that they're dangerous lol.
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