See red yet?

Yesterday and today are rather boring, I must say.

Second day of Chinese New Year was spent at my grandparents' place, and uncle's actually. Well they live just a few houses apart. So there was this lion dance troupe that they invited, and I sat so close to it that after it ended I was partially deaf. Yeah I was being stupid. And I didn't really know my cousins well, never really talked to them in my life, so I just sat in a corner. Under the sun, might I add, while they were in the house.

Rest of the morning and late afternoon was dedicated to TV-watching. MTV Asia, AXN, StarWorld. I was constantly switching between them and pausing when something was of interest.

Well for today I rounded up my money and set off for the game shop. I just had to buy something. Stared at the japanese version of Kingdom Hearts 2, priced at s$102! The shopkeeper reccomended the new Dragon Quest, but I didn't like the characters in there, so I averted my view towards Tales of Legendia for awhile, but dang, it's japanese too. Finally I set my mind on Final Fantasy IV Advance. It's definitely not the best among those, but well, I haven't even played it before, it wouldn't hurt.

Maybe I should have waited a little longer. Within the next few months, it'll be the arrival of a whole bunch of games... Ugh, I almost forgot I'm still paying for FFXI. It's driving me bankrupt.

Gonna have "Chinese New Year withdrawal syndrome", as termed by a friend of mine. XD

Corsair

Ah, it's Chinese New Year's Eve.

SquareEnix has revealed another job in the new expansion, Treasures of Aht Urhgan. It's the Corsair, who wields a "6-barrel gun" and apparantly has luck-based abilities. Looks cool, but I'm still more interested in the Blue Mage. Don't know if I'll still be playing when that time comes, though...

Temporarily out of games at home... So damn bored.

Oh well, looking forward to the dinner tonight.

Just Another Rambling

The Math test didn't turn out so bad. At least I didn't fail.

Flag day was... Bad. I mean, after all these events involving NKF, who would want to donate? People avoided, pretended to be on the phone, fumbling with their bags, or looked away entirely, like I wasn't there. I can't blame them though, but, sigh... Us students were made to do it. It's not like we had a choice.

Yet there were still exceptionally generous people on that day. I remember the Caucasian who winded down his car window to pass me $4 while stopping at the traffic light. No, don't get me wrong, I did NOT go tapping at cars, asking for donations. Rather, he did it voluntarily. There, a perfect example of a kind heart. I couldn't help but smile as I placed the notes into my seemingly empty tin. The two notes were all that were needed to make the tin heavy, heavy enough.

Naturally, with it being so light, it was sure to be rejected. I told them I had already tried my best, as should every other student tell them that. Well as long as you really have, and you know it, who cares? Of course I said that there were notes in there. She greatly doubted me, and asked another helper to check with the torchlight.

Yet, even with the notes, she still asked me to go for another round. I had had enough. This isn't supposed to be forced voluntarism or donations for that matter. I said, "If you all really need the money, I'll whip up $10", looking straight into her eyes. For a moment there, she seemed stunned, but then again, they couldn't possibly accept my money at that time, I guess. She gave a slight nod, signaling approval of the tin. Booya!

Of course they would want more money in the tins... they earn more commision, don't they? I'm not exactly sure, correct me if I'm wrong. And donations... it's entirely up to the person whether they want to donate, you can't force them or anything.

I guess the worst part of it was when my friend came across two elderly women, who walked right past him without donating, and said loudly in Hokkien, "Cheat people one lah". Oh well...

This is how the society is. If it was perfect, there would be no need for this; people would come forward by themselves to donate. Welcome to the real world. Hmph.

A 15 Minute Ride

Bro spent 7 days in the hospital.

Mom stayed with him, all the while. Day and night.

House was managed by me, kinda. I didn't do much, but I won't say I didn't do anything either.

To the hospital and back from it - everyday. Pains me to see someone as young as him in this state.

And now, my 'rents are sick.

You ask me why I failed my math test - how could I possibly concentrate?

You don't understand the current situation.

Can't study for the test. House is in a mess.

Is a life or a test more important?

Don't blame me if I fail. I'm not sacrificing a life for high marks in a mere test.

Heartless fools. People are sick here, and there you complain, criticize. Aggravate the matter; add on the pressure.

Say you don't know me. Don't fucking care if I die. Become non-existant. Invisible, ignored.

Fine. I'll mark your words.

And the source of all problems is back.

Can't possibly go on like this...

Rainwater

Finally plucking up some courage, I've decided to log back on FFXI after like, a month. Or rather, it's a risk or letting myself being bored to death.

I've kinda lost touch with playing bard already. Has anything changed? I don't know. I don't have any friends playing as bard, either. It's more like they ask me instead. So I think I will refrain from getting into any parties for the time being, though I know that won't help. Anyway, there's a whole horde of new bards all rising in levels into the mid 60s to 70s range, it's rather difficult getting a party at "peak" hours.

Well I don't want to affect other people if I don't know what I'm doing. I didn't play bard in hopes of getting a dynamis or HNM LS easily, and it definitely wasn't because of the large number of invites. I play it because I like how a bard works in the party, not physically attacking monsters, but rather buffing allies and debuffing mobs. Sure it gets repetitive, but I like it. Heh. And I would say that I'm just an average bard; I'm always short on gil. I spend more time PLing friends, and when I myself need one, they all disappear. XD

When it's time for me to quit, I wonder who to give all my stuff to. An old friend? Or maybe a random person down the streets of Lower Jeuno? Split it up and roughly divide it with the LS peeps? Or decide that "My stuff is going down with me!"? Still contemplating...

Hmm... Kingdom Hearts 2, I'm still waiting. Maybe I'll just buy the Japanese version and spoil all the fun.

Oh, and I can't believe AMK Central's McDonalds actually ran out of curry sauce last night! Ahaha. But it's fine, I could make do without it.

Yeah well, peace out.

"New" Year?

First week of school was okay, to say the least. But well, the word "okay" is being abused by us, kinda. It seems like an acceptable response to most questions, although in this sense "most" isn't really as much as it seems. Duh.

I guess I'm all alright for the change in teachers. They don't affect me much, but there are exceptions, however.

Had quite a shock and a rather pleasant surprise this afternoon. Stepping out of the class, I saw someone dressed in casual wear heading towards our classrooms. Well yeah, it's obviously a visitor, or so it seems. But I found her hair strikingly familiar, and asked myself, is that Alev? Yup, right on.

Sigh, how I wished I could have stayed on longer to chat with her, but due to Biology Practical lessons after school, it didn't allow me to. Dang. It turns out that she's currently here on holiday. She did say that life in Canada is much better than here, and about how she's getting high grades for Math there (like 90+), and only a mere pass when she used to live here (A mere 52, according to her). And yeah, I remember that quite well. I kinda trudged my way down for lunch after the short meeting. Oh, and yes, she did remember me. Eh heh, that's nice to know.

Well I thought I should talk about it here, cause I just had a sudden urge. It's unique to me, in a sense. It's not everyday that this happens. Yeah, like duh, again. Oh well...

I finally got down to completing Suikoden IV after a month or so. Well the ending wasn't too shabby, but not the greatest I've seen. And I played through the Dot Hack games again, out of boredom or whatever. Maybe because the new trilogy is within a month of its release date. Ah yes, that and Kingdom Hearts 2. Though the latter is sometime in March. It should be worth the wait, I hope.

Well I've said what I wanted to say. So have a good day. Or night.