Rabbit Tails & Meatballs

Insomnia

2011-02-17T20:41:00.000+08:00

I wrote this poem a while back and I'd forgotten where I dumped it. I just chanced upon it earlier and I thought I'd just put it here.

A written dirge to liberate a great sorrow
A lyric sung for the sighs of tomorrow
An elegy emancipating the essence of truth
While bathing in moonlight counting stars on the roof
A mass converged from a mess of the mind
Like a labyrinth of connections, the right path's hard to find
An unfinished requiem, the progression's unclear
To home in D minor or the things you hold dear?
A peaceful nocturne to end the night
As the wings of tomorrow prepare to take flight.

Black Dwarf

2010-06-25T21:08:00.000+08:00

My grandfather passed away today.

It was so sudden. I slept badly last night; I awoke with a foul mood. I should've seen it as a sign. Regrettably, there was nothing I could do.

He died in his sleep. He was perfectly healthy apart from his history of high blood pressure. He was fine when I last saw him, not even more than a few days ago. My grandmother said as such. Perhaps it was because he overexerted when carrying boxes of stuff from his house to my uncle's. He shouldn't have! Why didn't he call us to help? My grandparents were planning to shift out tomorrow... But this had to happen. It was also my brother's birthday today. Of all the days...

He was a cheerful man. I always enjoyed spending time with him, and with both my grandparents. They were fun to be around with. He was a great cook too. I will miss all of that.

I think this is the first time I've lost someone this close to me. The last time was my great-grandmother, and I was kind of young to really be affected by matters like life and death. I know this is rather depressing but I couldn't have known how I would've reacted until it actually happened. Some people get over it easily. Me, well, I don't know. I did cry, and I haven't cried for a long time. I thought I was fine, but after heading home after they carried his body away I actually broke down in tears. Heh... But I'm better now after writing all this.

Rest in peace, Grandpa. You will be sorely missed.

America

2010-04-06T22:24:00.000+08:00

I've been having these dreams about being in America again. I guess I do miss it a lot. And I actually typed out a list of things that I did there since I got back last year, but I haven't got around to editing and posting it. Procrastination at work. I should do it, soon.

New Year's Resolution

2010-02-25T11:42:00.000+08:00

Procrastinate less.

Looks like I'm off to a good start. XD

America!

2009-10-21T07:21:00.000+08:00

I'm sitting here in Steini's room at the moment. It's amazing to think that I'd actually have a chance to meet my Final Fantasy XI friends. It's awesome.

We're seeing Mount Eerie tonight!

Handsome Furs

2009-09-21T23:05:00.001+08:00

So I watched Handsome Furs live at Home Club on Friday. It was awesome! We're lucky that they had an Asia tour or they wouldn't even stop by here. Not even a lot of mainstream bands play here, let alone indie bands.

We got there very early. Better to be early, I thought. We sat around outside the club while Handsome Furs did their sound check. When it was time, we went in, got the free beer that came with the entry fee and chose the table closet to the stage. And on the way to the toilet before the show, I saw Dan and he started whistling. XD

The club wasn't very big, but it was pretty packed. I don't think a lot of people there really knew them, except for those right in the front actively dancing and armed with video cameras. I was right at the back, and I would say I had a great view because I was standing on a chair the whole time. Well it was necessary, I was like a dwarf compared to the Caucasians, haha. My friend and I wanted to record the whole show, but his card ran out of memory after one song, so we had to fall back on only photos. My camera was absolutely atrocious, I don't think it had a stabalizer or anything, so the pictures I took were all blurred.

The songs were great. They opened with "Legal Tender" and went on to play songs from both their albums. I've only heard Face Control, so I don't know the ones from Plague Park. They didn't play "Thy will be done" though, that's my favourite.

After the show we followed them outside and I approached them for a photo. Then I proceeded to tell Dan and Alexei what a great show it was, and I told Dan that I was a big fan of Wolf Parade as well. He said something about this place being very cool. I don't quite remember because I was completely overwhelmed by their presence, it was unbelieveable. Then my friend asked if they were going to come back, and Dan said he was just talking to Krug on Skype about it, and they might get Wolf Parade to come down in March next year. After a final handshake we left, tired but happy.

So that was the Handsome Furs night. I'll be seeing Mount Eerie and Sunset Rubdown in Denver soon, and it'll be spectacular.

Fifty Dead Men Walking

2009-08-03T19:26:00.000+08:00

I had probably the best breakfast of my life yesterday. I mean, it's pretty standard, but I've never eaten such a filling breakfast before; most of the time I just skip it altogether(like most people, I'd presume).

I don't have pictures, it's in my friend's camera, but there was bread, muffins, scones, orange juice, muesli, yoghurt, cocoa crunch and milk, salad, scrambled eggs, chicken sausage, some fruits and coffee.

All that mixture of food made my stomach somewhat uncomfortable after, but then again my stomach is always sensitive to a lot of things.

And then after a movie(it's the title) I had my favourite kebabs. Beef ones sold out as I had anticipated, but the chicken is really good too. I just like beef more.

In 2 weeks I'd finally be out of this place. Work, that is. Holidays never looked better.

Something I'm looking for

2009-06-19T10:18:00.004+08:00

I've been looking for something fun to play on the piano recently. I mean, apart from the duet I was supposed to work on with someone.

I'll be honest. I'm the type who gets bored with the same piece after a while. Don't get me wrong - I do love the music I play, but it just gets kind of dull. I just have to keep finding new songs to keep myself entertained and after some time I will pick up those songs to play them once more.

Like how I finally picked up "Those who fight" (from FFVII) the other day after a few years. I was sick of that piece because I had to practice it nearly everyday for my exams. I couldn't play with the same accuracy I once had, but it was, after all those years, actually refreshing to play it again.

I am looking at this certain piece I chanced upon on youtube. It's called Hidamari, composed by Yukie Nishimura. Hidamari means sunshine I think, and it is a very beautiful piece. Now normally I'm not a huge fan of playing those really emotional, lyrical kind of pieces (I'm really a Swimming kind of person), but this one is too beautiful to pass up.

I can't really find any sheet music for that though, so I'm looking through her other works. And if anyone has any recommendations on what to play, please let me know.

At work right now, and listening to some Bad Weather California. Awesome songs.

Ashes to ashes

2009-06-02T14:35:00.003+08:00

I almost blew up my workplace yesterday.

I was trying to toast some bread and stupidly placed a paper plate by mistake inside the toaster.

Four minutes later the resulting smell was not that of bread but of burnt paper. Thankfully, I had stopped it in time. Should it have been toasted for a couple more minutes it would've caught in flames, I presume.

I couldn't stop laughing at my own stupidity for a good 30 minutes after that.

Rabbit Tails & Meatballs

2009-05-28T14:58:00.006+08:00

Why Usagimaru? Why rabbit tails and meatballs?

I don't think anyone really knows, so I'll share this today. Nothing special, really.

So back then when I first got my PS2, the first game I got with it was dot hack. And in the second installment of this series(mutation), was this character called Nuke Usagimaru. I could stop here and you might guess that I took and used the name from there, but why exactly?

Usagimaru was a pretty interesting character. He was trying to be a stand-up comedian, and that's exactly how you get to meet him in the game. He was looking for an audience, and despite his rather lame jokes, which promptly caused everyone watching to leave, Kite(the main character) stayed behind and followed him all the way to the lowest level of the dungeon. "Tis' an actor's job to perform, even with just one audience member!", he chirps enthusiatically, before running off to the basement.

It is there that you save his life and he, out of gratitude, gives you his member address, effectively joining your list of available party members.

What I like about him is that he's a Long Arm(the name of the class which wields spears), and you don't get many in the game. The only other one is Gardenia, who is pretty cold and aloof, and while she goes get some interesting conversations I don't like her all too much. Well not only that, his hair is awesome.

So, not long later I got the game Final Fantasy XI Online(it's years back now), and I was deciding on a name to use for my newly created character. I wanted something unique, yet not too farfetched that I can't connect with. (Yeah, I get really picky when it comes to giving names.)

You already know the answer - I settled for Usagimaru.

Usagi means "rabbit" in Japanese. Maru means "circle". But when placed in a name it means "male". Simply put Usagimaru means "male rabbit".

In my early days of FFXI I met this very nice guy called Axl. He's American, but was living in Japan at the time. It was he who told me that Usagimaru could mean "rabbit tail" or "meatball" in Japanese slang. I guess it isn't that difficult to infer why.

So there you go, Usagimaru, rabbit tails and meatballs.

P.S. I realize I got a bit carried away when talking about who the hell Usagimaru is. I could've cut to the chase, but I figured the background information might be interesting to anyone who actually bothers.

Distant Worlds

2009-05-24T14:47:00.005+08:00

Distant Worlds: Music from Final Fantasy was simply awesome.

Considering this is the first time ever in my life to attend a Final Fantasy concert, it isn't an exaggeration to say that I nearly had tears of joy.

When they started playing the opening piece "Liberi Fatali" I couldn't help but smile. I was in so much awe.

The performance was great, despite a few audible mistakes and the lack of "oomph" in certain pieces, I feel. And in my opnion the soloist for Distant Worlds didn't really manage to capture the essence of the song and project more emotion. I guess I had really high expectations for the song, since it is from Final Fantasy XI, after all.

Probably the best thing was that Nobuo Uematsu was just sitting a few rows in front of me. It was so spectacular when he graced us with his presence.

I didn't manage to get the CD or the artbook there, but what I did manage to get was a T-shirt, and both Nobuo Uematsu's and Arnie Roth's autographs! It was a pity that I was so stunned at the moment that I forgot to shake Uematsu-san's hand. All I did was say ありがとうございます！He responded likewise. It was absolutely awesome to recieve the autographed booklet directly from possibly the greatest composer in video game music.

I can die happy now. Well almost, hahaha.

Panic

2009-05-15T22:25:00.003+08:00

The logic for my image transfer project is more or less established, but I simply cannot get the application to run properly. It keeps causing a panic, if that's what they call it.

Come Tuesday is already my diploma recital exam. Thursday would be the final presentation for our project. I cannot express how stressed out I am at this point. And I know with too much stress I start to panic. I can't do things properly.

I think I was going crazy just staring at the screen trying to solve the logic error. I have pinpointed the exact cause of the problem, but I simply do not know how to solve it.

Probably the worst thing ever in programming is that you know the error but you can't solve it. It quite clearly exemplifies "so near, yet so far", to an extent.

Fuck programming, I tell you. Fuck programming.

I swear I am never going to do this in the future.

I should update

2009-04-28T00:25:00.004+08:00

I should get around to updating the links here - they're all outdated. I've been kind of busy so I haven't really been in the mood to edit the html.

Steini just started a blog, I'll link that up soon. It showcases the music of himself and his comrades. (as he put it XD)

Well, apart from that, school's been as fun as ever. I can't wait for it to end.

19th May

2009-04-23T21:13:00.003+08:00

My parents' wedding anniversary.

More importantly, my piano diploma recital examination.

They just sent me the date and venue today. It never felt this near before.

With all this shit happening in school I'm so fucking out of mood I'm not sure if I can even express my music properly.

I don't think I can. Music is so dependant on mood I cannot even express anything. I'm not a professional. I'm just someone trying to take his exam.

Stress is there, no doubt. But it isn't just that. It's about what's on your mind. And this is 30 minutes of playing, non stop. Concentration is quintissential.

I hope it gets better. I really do. If it doesn't, well, I'd have to waste one thousand bucks for my exam fees AND prepare ANOTHER repertoir considering this year's syllabus is different.

Parellel 5ths

2009-04-16T23:41:00.003+08:00

It's ridiculous how much we're tied down in this place. The more I sit at the computer at the FYP labs the more I loathe it.

Fucking programming. I don't go to school to sit at the PC for 10 hours and fry my brain cells. Those who can, good for them. As they say, there's something for everyone. I'm not cut out to do this.

And it's not like we can do any of the shit we're supposed to do, either. It's difficult to the point where I can stare at the codes for a week and not understand a single thing.

I just want to play on my piano. I get so little practice recently because of the long days. And sometimes, I just can't into the mood to play any music. Mood is a very important thing; you just need one lousy day of school to ruin it all. Though it's not like I really want it to.

I'm just trying to get through this. I have to, because I'm not alone on this project. If I were alone, I'd have said "to hell with this" long ago.

Honestly, if it wasn't for the people I've met and befriended I wouldn't even bother with this school any longer.

Dissonances

2009-04-12T18:17:00.006+08:00

One can't help but be cynical at many things. Perhaps even at everything.

Sometimes you just got to forget about those petty annoyances. I'd go as far as to say I've tried to be nonchalant to all of them, but it doesn't work that way.

Somehow these all come back and kick you in the ass. You can't shun them aside, or rather, you can, but their return is inevitable.

I'm just doing what I can to be myself. I try to be nice and help people when I can, but I wonder if this is even enough. People's actions certainly don't express that.

Like I said I've been trying to shut off these thoughts all the time. I try to see the world as it is, but I think at some point this is too shallow. The world is far more than that. Deep down people have intentions that you'd never think of. Good or bad, for whatever reason there is.

I'm fine now. I just had to get things off my head. They might not be coherent but that's how they came out.

I don't know; they'll return soon enough.

Atonalism

2009-03-25T00:56:00.004+08:00

Sometimes it's pretty strange to think about things in images, rather than words. My memory tends to always replay scenes in images. Certain scenes often playback clearly in my mind.

The airplane incident when I was like 5 years old, on the way to Hong Kong.

The nightmare I had when I was 6, which involved yet another image "forming" in my mind.

The event 2 years ago, which made me afraid of him.

There're many others, but some of these remain the most significant.

I need to focus. My piano exam's coming, and I am not improving, at least the way I see it. It lacks... Emotion.

I haven't thought about what I'd do in future. I cannot see much happening.

Maybe this dissonant piece isn't helping. Maybe I'm tired. Maybe it's both.

I should go to sleep.

Silence

2009-03-10T00:43:00.005+08:00

I can't really sleep. I have to be up at 7 everyday but I can't even get to sleep until 2, at least. I don't really know why this is the case.

I'm on the verge of losing my voice, for a bit. Since Saturday's barbeque my voice has become really hoarse. It's been on and off though, so I'm not sure how it would be.

If you haven't noticed already everything I've said thus far expresses a certain level of uncertainly. I'm not even sure about what I'm doing in school recently. There's been a few nice people that I've met, but the school work's really a chore. It's almost impossible.

It's only 12:50AM right now. I have about an hour. Maybe I'll listen to Swan Lake and Persona 4 OST and maybe, just might be able to get to sleep. I don't know.

Bethena: A Concert Waltz

2009-02-25T00:32:00.003+08:00

I've been somewhat confused as to what I have been doing.

Since the last project ended it was just more or less studying for exams. And there were only 3 papers, no big deal. I guess the third year sort of looms ahead rather menacingly. Our break has been reduced to a pathetic 5 days becuase of it, which starts today, incidentally. I'm not going to plan anything, since most of it would be used for catching up on sleep anyway.

I was afraid that my piano exam and my final year project would clash at some point. I mean, I already signed up for it, and since I just knew that I was dispatched to the dreaded "fish tank" (project area), it's not very good news for my schedule. I just hope I don't end up failing my exam or something, since the fees are up to a thousand dollars. Also, next year's syllabus is different, so I'd have to change my repertoire, and that means more time wasted to learn new songs.

The way I look at it, there just isn't enough time. Perhaps I worry too much. I don't know.

Presto - The Rush

2009-01-28T01:53:00.005+08:00

There won't be anything new for about another week or so.

Chinese New Year was just 2 days ago, and then we gotta make the mad rush for our semester project. Deadline's Monday and I haven't really done anything. At this point, I'm just aiming to pass, but definitely not at the expense of my group members. If there's anything needed done so they don't get penalized I'll have to do it.

Thank you, procrastination.

Finale

2008-12-28T22:30:00.005+08:00

I'm just gonna rush in a post before the end of the year.

I had a bacteria infection last week for the most part. Must've been all the raw salmon sushi I ate within a period 2 days. It fucked up my stomach real bad so everything I ate got rejected. Had a fever along with it too.

I'm on a 2 week break currently, which ends today, sadly. I got sick, that's one week down, and then the second week we had our guitar rehearsals and performance, so another half a week down. Remaining days were left for games and school work.

I just started playing some FPS games recently, and while I suck at FPS, I do find it rather enjoyable.

Well, Happy New Year in advance to anyone reading this.

Something or Another

2008-11-28T23:34:00.002+08:00

I'll be honest - I forgot what I wanted to say here.

That is all.

The Search

2008-11-26T22:50:00.004+08:00

So, I sprained my foot for the first time in my life yesterday. Goddam vein just kept throbbing and the pain wouldn't go away. By night, I couldn't walk.

I took a day off from school and consulted a chinese doctor. When it comes to these things, they do so much better. Right now it's already getting better, though I can't walk too fast, which is a pain because I'm used to walking fast.

Shadow popped up on MSN for the first time in like 9 months. It certainly was good to see him again and to know that he's now an officer of a huge guild on WoW after being kicked by Nadia and Eneco. He's a nice guy so I don't really know what happened, he wasn't quite sure either. Regardless, they're all now enjoying WoW, and Xeo too. He recently got his mage to 80.

Anlec server on Warhammer died hard, as Tux put it. With the recent free transfers out of Anlec, he moved his Sorcerer to Ironclaw. After chancing upon him in Vent, I moved my Zealot over as well. My other characters remain until I figure out what to do with them.

Warrior Priest

2008-11-20T19:47:00.007+08:00

Sigmar's Blessings!

I've been playing a Warrior Priest on Skull Throne recently because a couple of my friends decided to try Order.

Generally, I'd say Warrior Priest is rather fun. It's quite challenging in a sense, but once you get used to it it's not all that bad. The first few levels are really a pain to get through because your heals are terrible and you die fast(but then again most classes die fast at low levels).

It's a nice change from playing a backline healer. There's much more involvement, and you really have to stay focused to keep people up. Most importantly, you're really hard to take down. Comparing to non-melee healers survivability is far superior.

Currently at rank 16 I'm Salvation spec'd but I'm thinking on going Grace later on, especially when 1.06 goes live with the upgrades to Prayer of Devotion and melee heals.

This serves as a good distraction until the Black Guard is released, which I'm really looking forward to.

Two

2008-11-19T19:50:00.004+08:00

Don't ask me about the title. I'm merely putting these numbers because my recent posts all had numbers as their title.

Last I heard, my friend has 2 papers left for 'A' levels, which ends tomorrow, I think.

Secondly, HY is going to play Warhammer today, according to "King".

And, twice. It happened twice.

Don't mind the subtleties.

Seventy-seven

2008-11-12T22:49:00.008+08:00

He stared at the clock intently. In just a few seconds he would make his move. He was neither nervous nor fazed; his face emanted a hint of confidence - almost smug. His hands slowly clenched into a fist, as several drops of pespiration trickled down the side of this face. Not drops of anxiety, but of heat. It was hot. The room, though big, was bursting full with people. The doors were closed. To him and everyone else in the room, it was almost hard to breathe.

His gaze never left the clock as the last few seconds ticked by. He did a mental countdown as he continued to stare fixatedly at the clock. Three, two... one. In that final second he jumped up to his feet and made a mad dash for the furthest door in the room. His eyes were now focused on the door. He wrenched the door handle and with the momentum he had built up with the sprint, flung open the door with explosive force. As he took his first steps out of the room, almost everyone had their heads turned at his direction. He felt emancipated.

The door now began to close. He left three others that he knew behind in the room. They did not move from their seats; they kept staring at his slowly waning figure as he distanced himself from the room with his widened steps. Them, and the remaining seventy-three people.

Just my lousy attempt at writing something after like, what, 2 years? It's probably rather bad, but meh, it's a start. AA's posts inspired me to do this, but in no way does this compare to his. I'd probably write some more if I bother, and if I remember to.

Four

2008-11-08T17:00:00.003+08:00

This is the forth week into the semester. And forth is right, because in chinese it's also a pun for "die".

There has already been a shitload of things to do, and there are more to come. This semester is just so heightned up in terms of workload and presentations. Still, I don't think it can compare to the stress levels of our 'A' level friends.

I heard Biology so far screwed people over pretty bad. All I can say is best of luck for that and hope the remaining papers somehow salvage the situation? I don't know, don't really know how it works.

Not much more to go, so here's hoping you all live through it.

Some big patches and the public live test server coming soon on Warhammer Online. Looking forward to that.

And then I said about how I'd write about how Mister D ate beef, but really, there's nothing to talk about at all.

There's also something I've always sworn to talk about everytime I'm on my way for my piano lessons, but never did. Perhaps I'll deal with it another day.

And sleep still stalks me.

Xarcabard, The Land of Truths

2008-11-02T18:31:00.004+08:00

Alone through the snow you walk.

17 measures of music surround you. It goes on like an ostinato; you're awaiting the Da Capo al Coda.

Does it ever arrive?

Perhaps you heard it, perhaps you didn't. Perhaps you weren't even waiting for the end. You just tell yourself there's only a few more measures to go.

You continue to trudge along the snow, thinking.

Thinking about how you didn't use Teleport-Vahzl to get there.

Stagnation of Ideas

2008-10-26T21:10:00.002+08:00

So...

While a couple of my friends have been posting witty stuff or generally thought-invoking posts, myself here has been posting shit, if you were to compare.

Okay, self-dissing and comparison aside, I still find things I write... lacking, somewhat. I don't know, I've never been able to come up with something good ever since 2 years ago.

Just the other day I sat down with a notepad and pen in my hand. I held the pen above the notepad, ready to write when something came through my mind. Half an hour went by, I almost fell asleep, and all I could come up with were all the spells in FFXI which had a sleep effect. That's not even original material!

Funny thing is that teachers used to comment that I loved to express myself through my writings. Yeah, a few years later this person can't even pen down half a paragraph of ideas.

Poly and IT has ruined one of my few interests. I'm sure of it.

The Light Slayer

2008-10-18T16:49:00.004+08:00

I made a Sorcerer on Warhammer last night, and was once again stumped as to what to name the character.

After some I thought I decided on "Slayeroflight". A sorcerer is probably the closest thing to a Black Mage anyway, and that's exactly what he played. His name ended with dark though, so why light? Because I'm on Destruction's side, and to go against the good(light) fits here. Also, he had a mule's(I think) name ending with light.

Not that I really wanted to steal the name...

Something's just lacking when you're not playing a game with your best friends.

Yet Another Prelude

2008-10-16T02:47:00.002+08:00

I can't sleep.

But even though I'm here, the inspiration to write doesn't come. I think I'm now far worse with words than I once was, be it written or spoken. Though I can't say I've really been good with words, at all.

(Gets a mind block for about 5 minutes...)

New semester at school. Same old shit all over again. Not so much gut hating this time around, but it's somewhat evident in a few. Not that I care much, but how do people actually continue like this, I'd like to know.

Playing a healer in Warhammer sometimes makes you feel like shit because... people die in RvR. I guess the mindset carried over from FFXI has affected me, because in an FFXI party, you don't let people die. Of course sometimes shit happens, but generally you don't let anyone die.

And in Warhammer, well, you simply cannot save someone who is being focused fired, unless there's a few other healers healing that person as well. It's funny that you play a healer to heal, and yet in such situations you're simply too helpless to do anything to save them, except wait until they die to resurrect.

I don't really know what else to say right now. Mind's pretty empty. I guess it wasn't such a good idea to type someth- No, actually it was a good idea. It made me sleepy.

Horrifying Visions

2008-10-10T03:58:00.004+08:00

Holidays have this effect on me.

I mean, sure, no one would complain about having a one month break, but I don't know, sometimes this boredom makes you wish you weren't on break.

Haven't been listening to music at all lately. Made my head kinda empty, I think. Only now do I open up Windows Media Player.

And I'm only here because the Warhammer servers are down for maintenance. I haven't mentioned it, but that's what I'm playing now, because Xeo and I got bluffed into believing that it wasn't seperated into NA and EU. It was only after I bought the game that I realized how it actually was.

So I'm left to play it on my own, with a couple of friends (we don't really do things together though).

We had our class chalet 2 days ago, and a couple of us didn't sleep the entire day. I came back at 9 in the morning, and decided to wait till evening to sleep. And to my horror I woke up after 3 hours.

Sleep is stalking me right now. Which makes me wonder, what the hell am I still doing here at 4 A.M.?

Level Sync

2008-09-23T21:46:00.019+08:00

Well, I got Puppetmaster to 56 few days ago. Most of it, in fact all the parties have been level sync'd ones. My only complaint is that I cannot cap my skills when I level in a party sync'd way below my current level.

First level sync party in Qufim.

Levelled Warrior a bit as well for my sub job.

A 5 Puppetmasters and 1 Ninja party in the dunes.

And apart from levelling, I did some Nyzul Isle assaults, ZNM fights and lots of farming.

I recently got my hands on Poulenc's Nocturnes, and have been practising Nocturne No.1 in C major like crazy. I'd been looking for this one for a while now.

Speaking of piano, next year's diploma exam syllabus is going to have some changes. If the Britten piece I'm playing doesn't get through I might want to try some of those Poulenc pieces listed, I don't know.

And just to be a little pessimistic here, less than one month of break left.

Irresponsible Adventurer

2008-09-08T23:59:00.017+08:00

Update's going on right about now, then we get level sync after.

Xeo's been leveling Summoner on Quay. So we got him his Carby mitts the other day.

He's finally reached my Puppetmaster's level range and we partied with some other members of Deosil just two days ago.

I've been looking at the latest attachments, namely Coiler and Steam Jacket, which were added in June or something. So much gear and stuff to get, so much more farming I need to do. And my Warrior is only 26, so I need to level that sometime as well.

Also, I was PLing Xeo and Wak last week and he lent me some stuff to use. Among them was the pricey Vermillion's Cloak, with Wak's signature on it. It was probably the first and last time I'd ever wear one.

September Update

2008-09-02T00:26:00.005+08:00

And so this semester's exams are over. It's already been a week so I'm probably not going to talk about it.

I finally got a new desktop PC after 6 years. I stayed up till morning just waiting for the FFXI updates again; was kind of eager to try it out on widescreen.

I think FFXI is finally giving a worthy update after so long. Level sync, as they call it, which allows you to level down(not delevel) to a lower level player's level temporarily and be able to fight and gain experience normally. Probably one of the nice additions with accordance to the new level sync system is the way they're going to scale down the current gear you have equipped when you level down so there's the option to not switch gear and of course, all the space we can free up by selling our low level gear.

Another thing I like is the option to keep beastmen seals with an NPC. That's really going to be a lot more free slots.

And uh, when Xeo and Wak get to 49 I'm gonna static with them on puppetmaster, I think.

Sheep Go To Heaven

2008-08-13T22:10:00.003+08:00

The moment you're born you start dying, so you might as well...

Have a good time!!

Hahaha.

One minute

2008-08-09T22:42:00.003+08:00

Happy birthday to Singapore, Ms Goh and Sar.

Yeah, I've never had a more boring national day. Here I am, sitting at home, doing practically... Nothing.

And not much food around either. I'm hungry.

>.>

プロジェクト

2008-08-02T17:11:00.006+08:00

This semester's project's done. This past week up to its last moments of the mad rush is over. The aftermath? Flu and a sore throat.

Still, I have to thank everyone for their help. I wouldn't have had my class diagram, retrieval and lots of other shit done without help, really.

Exams in 2 weeks, which means these next 2 are free for us, not counting studying, and revision lectures and all that.

Actually, it's not that free after all.

Enter, the final boss

2008-07-28T23:08:00.003+08:00

What's really important?

And what's truly genuine, in that sense?

Today just leaves me full of questions. Questions that I don't have the answer to.

I wouldn't normally be so perplexed, but this hectic project week has gotten my hands full. I can heardly breathe, and I'm sure many could say the same.

In any case, this is no time to be wasting on pointless thoughts. Pointless, at least for now.

The final battle looms ahead.

Gyakuten Meets Orchestra

2008-07-20T17:27:00.005+08:00

The new Gyakuten Saiban orchestral album, released just 4 days ago, 16th July 2008.

Certain tracks were sort of a disappointment upon my first listen, either because it lacked the oomph or because of the recording quality itself. I like the new additions Villian Suite, Gyakuten Saiban 4 Courtroom Suite and Swingin' Zenitora though. This version of The Steel Samurai is also pretty nice.

And yeah if you noticed I finally uploaded a picture after so long. It's not much, but my current mood just beseeched me to.

I was just learning the Star Onion's version of Vana'diel March on piano. It's a very good arrangement and very fun to play.

Speaking of Vana'diel, I was just watching some Puppetmaster videos yesterday and they got me hyped up about leveling my puppetmaster(yet again). It's probably another short term kinda motivation, but I'll see how far it brings me this time.

Ah, FFXI.

Good ole AntiHero, and those before it - TheFatedOnes, Genocyde, thieveZguild.

One Week

2008-07-12T21:23:00.003+08:00

The tissue paper argument still stands.

But that's not even valid for use for some, because it's actually turning the tables against us. That actually makes me think, a friend like this is better without.

Friday was a good example of one, though.

And speaking of Friday, Hokkaido Fair was great. I got lots of food I wanted, like those curry buns, the special croquettes, and those cheese sticks and chocolate souffles. What came as a disappointment to me though, was the horrifying 2-hour queue for that butter pancake thingy, of which the name fails me at the moment, the lack of cheese ice-cream(!), which was sold out by the time we got there, and the ramen. I guess it was just me, but the ramen wasn't really worth my 12 dollars.

My DS has been acting strange lately. No matter the game, the touch screen starts to move up and down slightly after a period of time which, to say the least, gets really frustrating. I don't know what the problem is, but I'm leaning towards the last time I dropped it. Although, it shouldn't have had much of an impact because it was in the case.

Uncertainty?

2008-07-10T23:54:00.002+08:00

At this stage I'm pretty lost.

I read what they say and get optimistic for a bit but then it just dies down fast when I look at my position.

Yeah, pretty damn confused. No answers yet. Only thing I can do is to keep thinking.

There hasn't been any sheet music uploads for the new Final Fantasy XI Piano Collections yet. At least, I couldn't find any. I might just buy the damn book when I get my credit card, because I'm getting impatient.

There's like 3-4 more weeks of school left, then exams. And that's 3 more weeks to code our project. And hidden among these remaining weeks are 3 tests, all secretly laid out to ambush us at our weakest. Very sly, you cunning machiavellians!

I helped Xeo with Zilart mission 8 two days ago. It was the superman fight - that's what they call Eald'narche's brother. That thing died really fast, I barely got down my rotation of 4 songs. We didn't break the record though, figured we spent too much time on preperation in the battlefield.

Well here's looking forward to tomorrow's Hokkaido Fair - I've waited far too long to try out the food there.

ありがとう

2008-07-02T00:40:00.002+08:00

Well, just gonna thank everyone who made my day today (or rather, yesterday, at this point).

Uh, be it those who wished me, who bought my present, and just all around celebrated it with me, and even the food seller who gave me an extra dish.

I appreciate it.

/bow

Dissenting Opinion

2008-06-30T00:48:00.001+08:00

Nothing much you can do to change their view about you, because after all, they're far greater and more important than you are.

Isn't that right?

Final Fantasy XI Piano Collections

2008-06-27T17:54:00.004+08:00

Final Fantasy XI Piano Collections was released just 2 days ago, 25th June 2008.

It features different tracks as compared to the piano collections from the Final Fantasy XI Premium Box Set.

Most of the tracks are quite nice. Just some thoughts on the tracks:

A New Horizon -Tavnazian Archipelago- starts the album beautifully. I thought it captured the ambience of Tavnazian Archipelago rather well. I was actually surprised to hear it at first, because I got it mixed up with Tavnazian Safehold. Different themes I know well, but my eyes somehow saw the wrong thing.

Ronfaure is the only track in this album originally composed by Nobuo Uematsu. It's not bad, but since it's almost a transcription from the original, I thought certain sections didn't sound too well on piano. But overall, still a nice piece.

The Grand Duchy of Jeuno is one track I particularly like. I guess it's just refreshing to hear it on piano after listening to the orchestral version in game a million times over and over.

Whispers of the Gods is a nice piece, but the original track wasn't one that I took much notice of. I forgot where in the game this is played, Aydeewa Subterrane, was it? Regardless, it's very pleasent to listen to.

Stargazing is the theme of Windurst[S]. It seems the similarites between this piano collections and the one in the premuim box is that both feature the Windurst themes. This piece is pretty new, being that the OST for Wings of the Goddess was just released not too long ago, but comparing the two, this piano arrangement sounds pretty good.

Fated Strife -Besieged- is pretty interesting to listen on the piano. I was more interested in hearing how it ended, since the original track actually keeps looping. And uh, the ending was kinda lacking, at least to me.

Mercenaries' Delight is the other battle theme in this album. I'd have to say this one sounds much better than Fated Strife -Besieged-, not only because it's faster paced, but I like how they arranged it, they were careful not to miss out the trills and such.

The Sanctuary of Zi'Tah is a very tranquil piece, and on the Rise of the Zilart OST it was probably one of the better tracks. I was excited to see how it would sound on piano, but well, it wasn't as good as I had hoped. I guess I expected too much.

The Cosmic Wheel is another slow, melodious piece of Sarutabaruta[S]. It's probably as good as the OST version. I'm definitely going to learn this once I get the sheet music.

Griffons Never Die is the theme of San d'Oria[S]. It didn't quite stand out to me in the OST at first. After hearing the piano version I don't find it all that bad. But the bass part didn't quite match up to the OST version, somehow I don't think it worked very well on the piano.

And finally, Wings of the Goddess, the track I've been eagerly wanting to hear since the tracklist was announced. And it didn't disappoint. I was worried that it might be a duet, seeing how Vana'diel March #4 was, but thankfully it isn't. At least I can learn this piece. I felt the performer brought out the mood of the theme quite well. Certain sections sound difficult to bring out the melody, but heck, I'm gonna try it as soon as I can.

And that's about it. Just my personal opinion on the first few listen-throughs.

Rather, lost

2008-06-23T17:53:00.003+08:00

I don't really know how to continue with this.

And uh, I don't think I'd actually continue to type something here this often, unless I see a good reason to. I mean, while it's sometimes a good way of leaving some thoughts and all that, I'd look at the big picture and find it a bit lame, I dunno.

Or perhaps I'm just saying this because I'm not exactly in the brightest of moods right now.

I'm a bit lost, actually.

Damn it, I should've known not to wear blue today. Fuckin' Monday blues.

Fugue

2008-06-20T01:58:00.003+08:00

Samurai Deeper Kyo - probably the only thing Slayerofdark left me. Think I should check it out sometime.

And well, we met up with Mr. Ng for dinner. "We" refers to the MEP students of my batch. Except, the other two guys couldn't make it.

It was good to see them again, of course, but the chocolate fondue was great too. And it was Mr. Ng's treat.

He's leaving for America in August, so that was the main purpose of today.

My break is almost over; two weeks is pathetic.

Reactions

2008-06-12T01:25:00.002+08:00

See, some people have this view about the rest of us. And you can't really change it. It's fixed with the individual, unless some great impactful something influences them. What that something is, I don't know. Could be an action, gesture, words and y'know.

What I do wonder is how people deal with things when they learn about something beyond their imagination. Well, maybe not something as great as beyond imagination, but something they weren't expecting.

And that's something I discreetly enjoy - seeing others' reactions, that is.

Prelude

2008-06-09T01:00:00.002+08:00

I logged into Final Fantasy XI for the first time in months yesterday(not counting the viewer, I do that a lot).

Apparantly nothing much has changed. I don't do end game stuff, so there isn't really much for me to do. Haven't had the mood to party, either. The rest of AntiHero moved to WoW, so no one's really left. Orestia's mule left a linkshell message recently though.

What is left, is Deosil. While I don't really like it all that much, it's nice to see it still alive and kicking. Not that it matters, in any case; I don't really talk to them.

I don't know how much longer this game will last. Perhaps a few more years. For me though, I haven't really thought about seriously picking it up again. While I want to level puppetmaster, I never ever get enough motivation to do it. Xeo seems to still enjoy it though.

My mind has wandered somewhere else. It's been hovering around Warhammer, and since the recent delay, I went back to LOTRO. I'm still waiting for Warhammer to see how it goes. Depending on the circumstances, I might not even play it for long, I don't know.

That's as far as gaming is concerned. There's so much other shit to care about as well.

My diploma exam. I haven't signed up, but I think I'm going to this year. I can't imagine playing in a concert hall. It's far too overwhelming.

And then there's my theory results. I missed 3 marks to achieve merit, but I passed nonetheless. Well, it's all good, because I got the qualifications to teach piano now. All I need now is to learn how to teach and to gain experience. It might be fun, as a back up job.

Today's the first day of our two week break. And y'know the funny thing about breaks is that the school still doesn't let you off. I need to go back for at least three days this week.

I caught up with some friends today that I haven't seen in a while. Not a bad day.

Lacklustre

2008-06-05T10:19:00.003+08:00

Heh, this semester's a mess. I failed 3 tests so far.

Like I said before, the people don't make it any easier. And what with all these shit that happened recently.

Either way, all I care now is just to manage to pass through everything, and then get the hell outta here. I never got the course I wanted, so this is just a waste of time.

So much for school. This school, at least.

Verklempt #4

2008-06-02T22:55:00.004+08:00

I overslept again today -15 minutes past the first class. And then I rushed to school, tired as hell.

Monday is never a good day. My gastric acted up in the afternoon and then I got chased around by a mad man during night class. As if I wasn't tired enough. No offence, but you don't stand there and poke someone in the hips for 5 minutes. Such droll, childish behavior. And naturally, I never understand anything during night class. I am going to fail at this rate.

Xeo returned to FFXI recently, after finally getting his new discs, which he has been waiting for weeks. I do plan on playing at some point, because my initial goal of getting Puppetmaster to 75 never saw the light.

I've come to realize I don't particularly enjoy certain end-game content. I don't know, it's pretty restricting to me in many ways. It's like you're bound to some boring routine every week. It's enjoyable at first, but all the excitement dies down quickly enough.

At this point, I wish I have something more substantial to talk about, but I'm afraid I don't.

All I can say is that today demonstrated a fine case of paying the price of being kind, as one of my friends had put it.

Machiavellianism

2008-06-01T23:45:00.003+08:00

There are those who are kind. But often times these people get taken advantage of. It isn't a matter of whether they're weak or not, but I'd think it's more of the situation they're in and the people they're dealing with.

See, sometimes these people just try to make everyone happy. And for ones with few friends, it isn't a stretch to say that they would want to please everyone in any way possible. Of course, I don't speak for everyone.

Then there are those who just love to take advantage of that. They demand for things, borrow things and don't return and the like. This has happened one time too many, I'd say. Know that while I might have closed one eye on the matter, I'll never forget your face, because it isn't just about forgetting, it's more than that.

And then it expands to something more. Every little action, every word said has an impact on something. Different people sense and react to these differently, and for those who display nonchalance, lucky you.

I don't exactly know where I'm going with this, because I'm tired as hell, but I'll probably sort it out at a later time.

Verklempt #3

2008-05-30T16:19:00.005+08:00

Some people just want to make you feel guilty and down. They seem to enjoy it. It's almost like schadenfreude, in a sense.

And what he said was right - what are the chances?

Verklempt #2

2008-05-27T23:52:00.003+08:00

I reached the final case of Apollo Justice, and it's interesting so far. The only problem I had was with the first witness. I couldn't percieve his damn habits. I mean seriously, (highlight for spoilers) who the hell sweats at their armpits the moment they lie? Damn, that was really a bitch to find.

School never got better. I wasn't expecting much anyway. Everytime it comes down to these grouping situations you really see how everyone hates each other's guts, so to speak. Seems so much like a facade in most cases.

I almost planned on skipping school today. I walk to school every day and my feet just seemed dead today.

These days I just feel like staying at home, listening to music and playing music I like. There's almost nothing much to look forward to, maybe except some new music albums coming out over the next few months, and until I save enough money to go abroad.

Well maybe the next break, which is probably the only peace I'm ever gonna get for a long time to come.

How to disappear completely

2008-05-18T04:20:00.003+08:00

Yeah that's what I feel right now. Disappear from this mess I'm in. Well, "mess" isn't exactly the best word to call it, but it'd do for now. It is pretty messed up, after all.

Many issues can be drawn out from this, if you think about it. This isn't just a simple project group anymore, it's much more than that. It's more than a misunderstanding, more than communication breakdown. The point is, this is some of the craziest shit I've ever seen in school. Never did I think people would act this way.

Like I said before, I won't deny I am a last minute kind of person. I can't work without stress, and probably not till the last minute. The other members? Well I think they're far better than me in this aspect. They can do work way before the deadline, I can't. Main point is, no matter when we do the work, we will get it done in the end. Doesn't matter if it's 1 hour or a minute before the deadline, the work will be done.

To what end would you go to get your"justice"? I presume you know the situation clearly, well enough to know who's at fault. Your intentions and your disposition at the time are totally two different matters, don't link them if you can't control your emotions. We didn't need to tell anyone anything. Your actions that day told them everything.

I fail to see how anything you did that day was morally correct. Your intentions, yes. Your actions? No way in hell. If you choose to insist that you are right, I'm prepared to be scribed as your villian. Your story, after all, is none of my concern.

And what's left of it? You've just left an indelible mark upon yourself.

I'm only doing this because the soft approach didn't work. Besides, I'm not counting on you to read this. Like it would even matter, really. Some people just don't listen.

Cavalcade of anger and fear

2008-05-15T12:34:00.007+08:00

Steini linked me this, you should take a look.

http://www.time.com/time/health/article/0,8599,1739601,00.html?cnn=yes

Some of those points mentioned are actually quite true, I think. And using the virtual world as a sort of therapy, who would've thought.

And speaking about people and their qualities, this morning held one occurance which displayed the zenith of varying dispositions.

I'm typing this through the course of 2 hours. (Of course, I'm not just staring at the screen for 2 hours, rather I'm busy with work) Up till this point I can't find the correct words to describe this situation. All I can say is that it looks really bad, people in my class should know.

Perhaps when this rather tense atmosphere has settled down, I shall attempt to write about it.

I should've seen this coming. As if what happened when I awoke wasn't heralding anything. I woke up in a cacophony of noise, of half dead alarm clocks and the drilling sounds of renovation works in the apartment below mine. Needless to say I was half deaf before I even left the house.

School is probably my most dreaded place now. And probably for a long time to come.

Farewell, Allian

2008-05-12T00:27:00.003+08:00

I was checking my friends list today on FF and then noticed that Allian left a final message in the game.

"Allian quit - 5/6/08"

I think he's actually using the MM/DD/YY format, so that's 6th May.

I missed the chance for a proper valediction. Guess I wasn't that much of a friend, was I.

I've known him way back since my bard in the 40s. I was actually levelling white mage sub at the time, and got into a party with him and his lousy connection in Qufim. He couldn't zone; everytime he does he goes into a long loading screen and then disconnects.

In any case, he was a good friend. Helped me a lot, particularly with the Evisceration NM and supplying weapons to the dunes.

Good luck out there, Allian.

Silenced

2008-05-07T21:30:00.003+08:00

Day 4. Pain gone, but as a counter reaction, I've temporarily lost my voice.

I wonder how tomorrow's presentation will turn out with me in this state. Either it miraculously heals within the next couple of hours, or I continue with his hoarse, deep voice. Creepy even, someone called it.

Past week has been full of tests. They just have to clutter everything within a few days and give us hell.

And, thank you Steini for the songs. X) I haven't yet had a good listen to all of them cause I've been busy, but I'll find some time this week.

Well now, I got slides to prepare for tomorrow.

Miasmatic Monday

2008-05-05T21:37:00.004+08:00

Monday sucks. It always does, at least when's there's school. To top it off I got a damn sore throat that hurts like hell. It's been a while since I had my throat act up this bad.

And school always has this effect on me. I don't know, makes me feel lousy over nothing. Couple that with the fact that I got no music to listen to.

I think I really need a new mp3 player or something.

That's pretty much all I'm going to say. In fact, today sucks so much I don't even know why I'm even talking about it.

Something to say?

2008-04-24T23:24:00.003+08:00

I got lazy. I want to update, but I keep procrastinating.

I don't think this is actually the best time to be saying something, because I'm sort of worn out after a day of rehearsals and guitar orientation.

And apart from the performance, it was Victor's birthday today. I bought the cake - Belgium Chocolate it was. Had to rush through the rain to get to school before the break was over, because otherwise I'd have missed the chance to get it there when everyone was present. Furthermore, I overslept - in fact I skipped the first two periods, so I take responsibility if I failed to deliver it.

I might be raiding for the first time on LOTRO this Saturday, if my application got through. I don't know, I don't really care if I don't get to join, it's just something to experience.

One last thing, my desktop monitor died out on me. Thankfully I got a laptop, and there's where I'm posting from right now.

Start of a new trial

2008-04-06T22:27:00.003+08:00

I completed Trials and Tribulatioins at last.

I ilke the ending, how they rounded everything up quite satisfyingly.

And so I started Apollo Justice. First case was really nice. I'd say it's comparable to 3-1, maybe even better.

4-2 looks to be all right so far. You don't learn much about the defendant on the first day though, and that's the point where I'm up to.

Hmm, what else...

Cabal. I didn't quite enjoy it. It was astonishingly easy to level for the first 35 levels or so. Then it got boring for me. I don't know, never had much interest in it in the first place. I was just trying it out of boredom.

I got lots of catching up to do for guitar. Don't know if they're going to make us perform that piece of music or what, but how the hell do you play a descending passage in thirds that fast. Practice, yes, I know.

And I've been thinking of returning to LOTRO. These recent updates look pretty good, to be honest. I think I'd do that, just to kill time till Warhammer, which has been delayed till fall, comes out. I don't think I've ever talked about LOTRO here, but I played it for a few months last year.

Oh and one last thing. 14 days till NEW 逆転　NOT 裁判. No information regarding the game has been released yet, so it's still pretty much a mystery to everyone. Guess we'll just have to wait and see.

As though nothing ever happened

2008-03-29T20:45:00.003+08:00

To some extent, it's true.

Xeo's PC broke down so that explains his disappearance for the past week or so, right after getting his cooking apron from the cooking guild.

I've been playing 9Dragons for most of the break, and for some unknown reason I actually rather enjoy it. It's not often that free online games actually catch my attention for long. I don't know if it's because of the interesting kung fu or what, but yeah, I like it, like I said.

Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning needs to be released already! I hate to say it, but Final Fantasy XI is getting a little boring after so many years; close to 4 now, I think. And that might be an understatement, because I'm biased.

Well with all that said, I'm looking forward (not) to the remaining 3 weeks of my break.

Just a short update

2008-03-18T18:51:00.003+08:00

Steini and Tarfur were brewing beer. XD

And uh, exam results will be released tomorrow. I don't give a damn, really.

Perfect Cadence

2008-03-15T22:08:00.003+08:00

I'm finally done with the theory grade 8 exam today. 3 damn hours in a cold room, it couldn't have been any better. Luckily for me my nose didn't act up so much.

I met Xue Li at the entrance after my exam. What a coincidence, considering I'm no longer entered through the school. I switched to a private teacher last year. It wasn't such a surprise to me though, I mean, we were both taking grade 8.

It was fairly easy I think. Question 1 was very fun to play around with the sequences, and question 4 was, hands down, the easiest question I've ever come across. I guess it's safe to say that. I'm going to laugh if I fail that question. Question 5 had me trying to recall single and double reed instruments. I didn't figure it out in the end, I just guessed. 2 and 3 were average. Not the hardest I've seen, and at least the damn tune was easy to hum out. They could've thrown us 6 sharps with lots of accidentals or something, heh that'd have been hell.

Okay I got sort of carried away, but well yeah the exam wasn't so bad.

I watched The Spiderwick Chronicles a few days ago, and I thought it as pretty good. At least, in my opinion, better than The Golden Compass. The tickets were free too, cause I won them from Lime or something. That guy's sister reminds me so much of Karin from Shadow Hearts Covenant, with the rapier and all. And I think she was the only one who did any actual fighting. The rest was all throwing and spraying tomato sauce and stepping on floorboards and stuff like that. Pretty interesting though, and the idea that the ogre would become his father didn't occur to me.

On Phoenix Wright, I slowed down a little. I'm still on case 5 of Trials and Tribulations and things are looking quite interesting right now. I wonder who would be the next few witnesses to appear.

I guess I've said all that I wanted to for now.

Minor 2nd, Perfect 4th down

2008-03-08T01:31:00.004+08:00

All these strange fucked up dreams or nightmares I've been having lately...

Must be due to all this lack of sleep for the past week. I mean, it's good to have a wild imagination sometimes, but this is clearly getting out of hand.

Well, believe me, you can't trust your dreams.

17 minutes

2008-03-06T15:18:00.003+08:00

17 minutes on the train home.

17 minutes of nothingness, only because there's no seats and it's packed to the brim, so to speak.

At times like these the only thing I can do is try to balance myself the whole time.

I think.

Trials and Tribulations

2008-02-27T21:01:00.005+08:00

Case 3-2 clearly demonstrated "Double Jeopardy", whereby a defendant cannot be tried in court again after being declared innocent for a particular crime.

3-3 is about a poisoning incident at a French restaurant. Pretty interesting case, dealing with money and loans and all.

3-4 occurs in the past, and is Mia's first case as a defense attorney. I didn't get to play much of it before my batteries started to die, though. I don't like to play while it's charging, cause I get pretty restricted in terms of movement.

I'm aiming for the last case tonight, but now that I think of it, maybe I don't have the time. I'm going to party with Xeo and Wak on Dragoon. Ah yes, I finally unlocked it a few days ago, and I'm really enjoying it so far. My only gripe is with the wyvern dying to AoE attacks ever so often. It's easy to neglect its HP and wanting to keep going, so sometimes it dies before reaching the 20 minute recast.

Well now that I'm on break, I actually followed a couple of friends to look for a job through an agent. I'm kinda nervous about the whole thing, I don't know how it'd turn out. It keeps flashing through my mind like some pestiferous, uh, thought. Can't settle for a better word right now. Heh, I don't know, all I can do now is wait and see.

Perhaps I'd be more comfortable teaching piano instead. All I need is to get my grade 8 theory certificate. Speaking of which, my theory exam is just 2 weeks away, on 15th March. Am I prepared? I hope I am.

And uh, is it just me or was that thing he wrote kinda sketchy? I get this subtle hint that he's insinuating something about that person. Well, I didn't think it was too hard to catch, but I must commend his effort for trying, even if that wasn't his original implication.

Fragrance of Dark Coffee

2008-02-24T12:29:00.003+08:00

Godot's theme is pretty awesome, I have to say. And the orchestral version of it makes it so much more amazing.

I'm currently on case 2 of Trials and Tribulations. Case 1 was rather good, comparing to the previous 2 games first cases. Case 2 so far seems like a pretty interesting change from the normal cases. I won't spoil what it is, but well I don't think it's that hard to guess either.

I got hold my copy of Apollo Justice, so right now it's just sitting there waiting for me.

And in Final Fantasy XI, I think it's finally time I try to unlock Dragoon. Everytime I decided to do it, I'd start having second thoughts about it, because I needed to mine for a dragon egg, then fight a dragon way over at Sandy. I guess I probably wasn't very interested in Dragoon after all, huh, if being able to play the job wasn't even enough motivation to unlock it.

Well now back to more Phoenix Wright.

Examを終わりました

2008-02-22T21:32:00.003+08:00

It certainly was a coincidence today. I met the guy who liked the Final Fantasy piece that I played on piano 2 years ago. I didn't stop to chat though. I was too tired and was slightly disoriented after sleeping on the train home.

My last paper was today. I'm glad it's over, for now at least.

I think I finally got the rough idea of riding a bicycle, thanks to everyone's help. I still have some trouble balancing, but hey, it's progress.

I apologize if I dampened anyone's moods at first. To tell the truth, I felt pretty lousy all of a sudden. I figured I wouldn't be able to succeed in learning and didn't want anyone to waste their time trying to teach me, that's why I kinda discounted myself to even rent a bicycle. Call it inferiority complex.

On a much brighter note, Apollo Justice will finally reach stores where I am, tomorrow. That's more than enough motivation to finish up Trials and Tribulations, which I just started this morning, before my exam.

And in a few, I will turn in after a long day of...

Objection!

Exemplification of Deterioration

2008-02-20T12:12:00.003+08:00

I should've seen it coming.

Honestly, it was far worse than I thought. That's the reality.

When did school end up like this?

On the spur of the moment

2008-02-19T19:32:00.002+08:00

I don't really know what I'm doing anymore.

Why does it dawn on me that what I've done is hyprocritical, why do I get this feeling that you're giving out subtle signs that you hate being "betrayed".

I don't know exactly what I'm doing here.

I wasn't trying to do anything I didn't intend. Somehow, something keeps overwhelming me with possibly irrational thoughts. I wasn't ignoring. Well, I was trying not to ignore. It was totally unachievable.

And on the spur of the moment, I feel I should go back to what I was. I feel like not being associated with anyone would put me in a more advantageous position, where I wouldn't be accused of betraying anyone or being some selfish hypocrite. After all, I never had anything to do with you in the first place, right?

I don't understand why it is so difficult to return to my previous self. Back then I never talked enough to hurt anyone, I never did anything to possibly harm anyone. I never had any usual "friends" I could hang out with, I was always alone.

Alone. I liked the solitude.

But I realized something, there'll come a time where you won't get anywhere by yourself. Which is why I so painstakingly forced myself to talk more, because this is what everyone says. Talk more, you're too quiet. It's not something innate. I couldn't just suddenly be able to talk and converse well with people. In so doing, I think somehow, I forced out any words I could think of, to the extent I don't know I actually trespassed their sensitive zone. I believe I possess some charactersistics identified in the diagnosis of Asperger's Syndrome, and well, I'd say that doesn't help much.

That's when I started Final Fantasy XI. I didn't need to converse with people face to face. I could do so online, represented by my alter-ego, my character in the game. It's safe to say the game changed my life a lot, because I met a lot of people I couldn't meet otherwise. Many people actually had an impact on me, many I respected or just had lots of fun with. It also changed my view on things and the world, made me more open-minded and more familiar with things I wouldn't know being cooped up in this country.

I guess my topic kinda strayed a little. What was my topic to begin with anyway?

Ah yes, talking about Final Fantasy XI sparked me up, I don't really feel all that lousy anymore. But my point still remains. This isn't just a one-time thing. It's a recurring event, and it's bound to catch me off guard at some point.

I don't know what'll happen then. Meh, I shouldn't even think about it.

On the bright side, 2 papers down, only Java left. And then a 2 month break.

I'm willing to bet peoples' dispositions will change once our second year begins. It was never set in stone anyway, eh?

Can I even say anything?

2008-02-17T17:49:00.003+08:00

Tell me the definition of a friend, because I think, I've gotten the whole concept wrong.

Or should I say, your definition.

I don't want to care about all these little things, because honestly, they are ubiquitous. Precisely so that I want to ignore it. But some people just have to bring up all these petty annoyances every single time.

While I agree different people have different definitions of the word 'friend', I'm sorry to say that yours might be a little far-fetched.

I'll tell ya what I think, I'd say it's jealousy. Jealous that someone just stole your precious gems away from you for a day or so. And no, I never signed my name against the slip of the anti-hero in your story.

Whatever it is, don't end up doing stupid things that only you can think of. And don't say I didn't warn you.

Yeah, I'm gonna ignore whatever foolish acts you're gonna draft up.

I thought what I'd do was, I'd pretend I was one of those deaf-mutes.

Hold it!

2008-02-10T00:07:00.000+08:00

Professor Layton and the Curious Village for the DS will be released today.

9 more days to Apollo Justice: Ace Attorney...

...And 8 days to my first paper.

I like how games I want are being released during the exam period. It's almost as if its mocking me. Though exam or not, I'm still going to buy them.

The soundtrack of Folklore is pretty good, in my opinion. Many tracks manage to set an atmosphere that is haunting and somewhat creepy, yet mystically beautiful. I am able to picture how certain events play out just by the stories drafted by the music, and I haven't even played the game. Definitely going to get this game when I get my Playstation 3.

Studying would commence soon. Damn these exams, spoiling my holiday mood.

Hmm...

2008-02-08T17:08:00.000+08:00

Y'know sometimes I let what I say to people bother me. "Sometimes" might even be an understatement.

Perhaps being too frank or sarcastic sometimes just doesn't cut it. I mean, it's possibly because of the people's reactions and how they take your words. These kind of responses, verbal or non-verbal, somehow overwhelm me pretty easily. And in your subconsciousness, it keeps telling you, yeah you've just messed up.

Though of late I've been able to overcome this with lesser effort, I can't say that these feelings have totally dissipated. I don't think it's aberrant either.

I wonder if anyone else have this kind of feeling, the feeling of thinking you're lousy just because you think that you've screwed someone over, even though it didn't matter to that someone (but you don't know whether it did).

Well, just something that came to mind.

Reprise

2008-02-07T02:17:00.001+08:00

Been a while.

I just decided to change this whole damn thing to a simpler looking page.

So about a year has gone by, with a shitload of events. I'm not going to list them all. In fact, my mind is pretty blank right now. For some reason this always happens when I type.

Final Fantasy XI has remained rather stagnant for me. The number of times I've logged in for the past few months can probably be counted using my own two hands. Most of my in-game friends have either quit and/or gone to WoW. In fact, if it wasn't for Xeo's second return to the game, I don't think I'll still be talking about it. I just leveled Dancer with his Black Mage a few days ago.

School has been what it's supposed to be. It kills people, I tell ya. Projects and tests are armed with a whole array of weapons, and the people don't make it any better half the time. Well, school does have its fair share of enjoyable moments, though, I'll give it that much.

There's this classmate of ours that we've decided to beleaguer with sarcasm all the time. I was probaby off my head, but I enjoyed it so much, it was literally an all-out assault yesterday.

Wrong time to be up, I'd say. I forgot what day it is.

Happy Chinese New Year everyone.

.hack//G.U. Vol.2 Reminsce

2007-04-26T10:24:00.000+08:00

11 more days. Plus a few additional days for it to arrive in Singapore.

Well I'm at school right now I don't even know what else to say.

Linkshells...

2007-04-21T18:56:00.000+08:00

Now, I know if the members of Deosil find and read this they'd probably kill me, but meh.

To tell the truth, I tossed the linkshell. Intentionally. I couldn't stand how things were in the LS. I tossed it once before, but someone asked for my return. Tossed it for the second time now, and I'm never going back. I go out of my way to raise some people, and nobody gives a fuck when I die. It's not like I actually beg people to raise me, because it really don't matter, but when I do ask the least you could do is give a damn response.

I don't know exactly what happened a couple days ago, but from Xeo told me, I knew that shit was happening in the LS. Stuff about whining about people talking behind their backs and threatening to quit the game because of it. I'm glad I'm not in it anymore.

I tossed one LS, and I joined another, with good reason too. An old friend of mine is the leader of this Gods/HNM linkshell, so I joined it. I was given a chance to be a sack holder too. Hope this LS goes well, and that everyone gets something good out of it and stay happy.

Well, time to take a nap. The first sky farming event is in about 6 hours.

This is not worthy of a title

2007-04-19T19:31:00.000+08:00

Might need a Raise III for this now. It's been what, 2 months since I last came on here?

So I got my results for 'O' levels, entered Nanyang Polytechnic blah blah...

Basically, back to school. Honestly, is there even anything to talk about?

Been on FFXI as usual for the past few months. The return of Xeo is probably the only reason I'm even playing the game anymore. I mean, I did make a couple of new friends since really getting back into the game. Slayerofdark and Athenor, just to name 2, but they're both no longer playing FFXI. Athenor quit apparantly of real life issues, and Slayerofdark, well, just disappeared one day.

After giving up on Blue Mage because I didn't have sea access, I waited for Xeo and some others in our "semi-static" to catch up with my 60 Red Mage, then started leveling that. Got it to 70 before saying argh fuck this. Besides, I didn't have good gear for it. No way in hell am I gonna buy a Penitent's Rope or Jet Seraweels for it.

So I put Red Mage aside and re-geared up Bard, probably the only job I really like.

As I type this, it starts raining, and I get a sudden memory loss. Ah, don't you just love forgetting what you had in mind just a SECOND ago...

Raise II?

2007-02-05T17:26:00.000+08:00

Well well. Looks like I left this for dead once again.

Took up Japanese for 3 weeks now. I'm on the 4th, and I believe, the last for the basic course. No more long boring bus rides! Seriously, I fell alseep on the bus on the first day, and well, ended up somewhere else. Ahaha...

So days before Christmas last year, a whole bunch of friends came back to FFXI. And once that happened, naturally, I started playing more of it. Xeo came back after quitting for months or something, maybe a year. Made some new friends as well while leveling Blue Mage and Ninja.

It looks like I might have a chance to join an end-game LS for once, after nothing for 2 years. First Jakal asked me to apply in Anduril, but I read the reqirements and stuff and it said that bards needed at least CoP8-2 and above. I'm on 2-5, and completing 6 CoP chapters anytime soon is fucking impossible. Another one was introduced to me by Deathseeker. This one well, he gave me the site, but I couldn't access it... which brings me to right now. Bills didn't get through for the month, so I can't log in at all. I can't ask anyone anything.

Hmm... I just realized that the two people mentioned above are huge enemies in Ballista, so it seems.

The new "Salvage" thing was pretty fun. Kinda like Dynamis and Limbus, people say, but I don't know I've never done any of those. You are thrown into this area for like 100 minutes. They seal off all of everyone's job abilities, sub-jobs and magic, and also strip you of your equipment, lower your stats and HP/MP. So basically all you have at the start is to use H2H to attack... which makes Monks really useful in there. Of course, any other job with H2H skills work, like THF for example. Oh, and healing items like Hi-Potions are absolutely vital.

As you fight through the area, some of the mobs drop items which unseal a given part, like say, one unlocks the usage of magic, and another unlocks body equipment, stuff like that. Some mobs also drop the items needed for the new awesome Salvage gear. I don't know much after that, cause we didn't make it far with only 6 of us. We got booted in the area where the Flans were.

I've been leveling Puppetmaster as well. It's kinda fun, cause it's one job where I didn't need to rest once up till the 10s. Just fight, and automaton cures when on how HP, then activate Dark Maneuver so that MP is refreshed. Well that's how it goes for the most part. I do use Stoneskin and Flash and other maneuvers like that.

Well anyway, I need my content ID reactivated...

Before I die, heh.

Change

2006-12-19T00:49:00.000+08:00

FFXI isnt like what it used to be.

It feels different. I don't know is it because of the drop in population, or the fact that my friends list is dead. The linkshell is so damn empty. The only people I see in there are mostly Schinn and Nadia, for the last couple of weeks. Sure, I ballista'd with Schinn about two weeks ago, but where the hell is everybody else!

I don't really want to quit anymore. I spent way too much time on it to just throw it away like that. At worst, I'm just gonna leave it there as it is, without deleting it. What a fool I am.

Then, boom. I suddenly feel dizzy and am unable to type further.

omgwhatareyoudoingstopthat

No Suitable Title

2006-12-14T19:26:00.000+08:00

Yay for revival post. It's been more than a month since I touched this thing. And who cares anyway. It feels more like I'm talking to myself than actually letting other people read this. I don't even know.

But anyway, I'm bored and just want to put down whatever thoughts in here.

So I went to Australia and back and find myself bored again. There's going to be fewer and fewer new games to play on my PS2 since the PS3 is here, which of course I'm not going to buy. The price is insane. On the bright side, the DS has a couple of good games which are gonna be released. The remake of FFVI is one of them.

I'm surprised Willis actually bought me one of the pillows' albums 'GOOD DREAMS' from Japan. I mean, being that I can't find any of their albums here, and I spent like a year looking for one, to no avail, I just hinted to him to help me look for it. He didn't respond to it. But he bought one anyway, and I'm thankful.

Okay, what else.. thank you Steini for sending the song by Destroyer. It's a nice song.

And, a gathering yesterday with some P6 classmates. Some of us ended up watching Eragon. I was fooled because I didn't know it was part of a trilogy. I know it was a book, just not one part of three. So the ending.. well, it'd be how you'd feel if you thought it was one complete story. And what that is, I don't know.

And just because everyone in the world is asking how're the exams, I'd say I did okay. What can I say anyway, I'm gonna get full marks? Piece of shit. I didn't even study.

I'm trying to keep myself busy so as not to go insane with boredom. So I've bought some books, leveling on FFIII, and taking up Japanese soon. And I'm also trying to figure out Swimming, a song by Sunset Rubdown, on the piano. Seemingly fiendishly difficult, but I try.

I think that's about it. My mind's blank right now.

School Ends

2006-10-12T23:13:00.000+08:00

Farewell assembly.

So, it's goodbye, eh?

I never knew this day would come so quickly.

Not like it matters though.

The friends I have are next to nothing.

Well anyway,

"Forgotten, but not lost"

Yeah, from Kingdom Hearts II.

What?

2006-10-07T22:41:00.000+08:00

Damn haze. And the watchamacallit virus outbreak in my school.

They closed the canteen for the rest of the year, and gave us biscuits on the very first day they did that.

We're not kindergarten children! And it was those biscuits that caused me to get a fever.

And now the haze. My sore throat ain't going to recover.

Also Sprach Zarathustra again

2006-09-10T02:14:00.000+08:00

Hmm? About damn time I type something...

Really impressed with Xenosaga Episode III after completing it again, only this time in English.

The voice acting was awesome. Maybe except Kevin, who sounded a bit off to me at first. Canaan sounded a little too emotional for a Realian.

Upon further listening, Forgotten Sacntuary ain't all that bad. And Outrageous as well. I liked the version which was played during the Erde Kaiser Sigma fight.

I've been neglecting my chocobo in FFXI for four days now. Heh, at least there's basic care programme to take care of it. Or him, should I say, for it's a male. Quick grow up so I can ride around!

Can't think of anything else. >_>

Xenosaga Episode III: Also sprach Zarathustra

2006-07-16T19:54:00.000+08:00

Well, I finally bring myself to type something here because... it's been more than a month.

Xenosaga Episode III is impressive, after the rather mediocre episode II. The battle system is a huge improvement from the previous game. The story, well... I don't know much of it cause it's Japanese. Just bits here and there. But judging from the cutscenes alone I guess it's good. Only thing that wasn't up to my standards was the music. The battle themes are okay, except maybe the E.S. ones. Some other themes were taken from the older themes in the last episode.

At this point I'm only done with disc 1, so I don't know how it'll progress yet, but from what I've seen so far, I dont' think disc 2 will disappoint.

I watched Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest yesterday. Why I watched it, I don't know. I didn't even watch the first of the series.

Well then, dinner awaits...

In the Sky

2006-06-01T23:18:00.000+08:00

Finally. Third day of the Conquer 'O's, and also the second last day. No more waking up early, at least for the next three weeks.

Been playing Grandia III for the past week. I only say it's good because the only other Grandia game I played was Xtreme, and it was kind of lacklustre. The only thing which compelled me to complete it was the amazing battle system. Yes, it was the only good thing about the game. And Xtreme is a dungeon-brawl more than anything else.

Well, enough of Xtreme. Grandia III started out rather strong, because I was really drawn into it for the most of the first disc. The initial party members were also very interesting. I'm talking about Miranda and Alonso here, haha.

But on the second disc, the story seemed to have less of an impact. And the final area didn't amaze me much. The villains weren't established properly. You don't even get to know his name until the last few cutscenes of the game.

Yet, above all, the battle system is really great. It is what makes Grandia III fun.

Helped Shadowwolf get some of his Blue Magic spells. Some were seriously a pain to get. I guess it all comes at a price. Since they're all free, SE can't make it easy to learn.

Oh yeah, for today's composition test, my mind was rather blank. Until I got an idea from the story of Grandia III. Heh, sometimes game ain't all that bad.

Right now, tired as hell. Night.

Er... Whatever

2006-05-24T23:38:00.000+08:00

Day off yesterday, so I practically devoted the entire day to FFXI.

Woke at 7AM, and by 9 I was already in a TP Burn party. Shortly after it ended, I joined a Manaburn party. Got 74, and we disbanded. And then it was lag time in Besieged. Another one happened shortly after. 2 more TP Burns after that. By then it was exactly 12 midnight.

All that for a total of about 64,000 exp.

Good. It's the last day of school tomorrow. Minus the Conquer 'O's and whatnots, that is.

Verklempt... XD

2006-05-11T20:57:00.000+08:00

Electrolysis is such a wonderful topic.

I mean, seriously, I don't understand a damn thing about it. As for the test, I can safely say that I'll get less than 5, over 25.

Today one of my friends was like... I'll ransack your bag since you're ransacking mine. Don't even ask why I was ransacking it. And he found the book I hadn't returned to him in months. All of a sudden he's like, WTF did you do to my book!? I stared at it for a while, and was thinking, "eh, it's just the bottom corner of the spine, you know, when you place it in your bag for too long and the edge starts crumbling a little..." So yeah, whatever. He just got mad, really mad. And exclaimed "You shall not be forgiven!", and left.

Right, I see...

No honestly, I don't get it. Like maybe he developed an emotional attachment to the book or something, I don't know. Whatever it is, right now, I don't give a damn. I just want to rant, and then forget about it. >.>

The new Digimon Savers looks pretty good. I like how the anime begins. It looks promising. Heh, it should be, after all the people did to make Bandai continue the production with Digimon. I signed the petition too.

Ah, just the other day I recall standing outside of the classroom during English lessons. Obviously, it's a punishment, but I liked it. It's more breezy and airy. And we don't have to sit in the dreadful room, listening to the teacher go on and on with a boring teaching method. But I doubt this so called punishment is any worse than what some of the others had had.

Right now, bored. Logging into FFXI in a while, I guess.

Later.

Nocturnal

2006-05-09T23:29:00.000+08:00

I wanted to take a nap in the afternoon today after returning home from school, but I ended up sleeping...

Until 9P.M.

Bah, now I can't sleep.

I missed lunch, I almost missed dinner, and even then I didn't eat much.

Heh, can't be more excited when SquareEnix has officially announced Final Fantasy XIII for PS3. It's still a long way though.

Wanted to add a link to that, but this Blogger server doesn't seem to work well right now. Had to refresh 5 times to get to the sign in page, and another 10+ just to type this. Now I wonder if it'll even get through. >.>

Peace.

The Past and Pending

2006-05-02T19:10:00.000+08:00

Been busy leveling Blue Mage lately, no time to get on here. Haven't gotten very far though. Still at 23, because it's hard to get a party with the shit loads of blue mages on the server. "Blue-burn" works, but I never liked to be the one who starts a party. But well, it's a fun job.

Partied with my bard for the first time in like 5 months. Kinda messed up the macros at the beginning, but gradually got the momentum. We camped at moon, but the EXP. wasn't too good. It was a nice for a start though; no deaths and all that.

Martin logged on for the first time in months. Was sure glad to see him. Too bad the new expansion is not released in Europe yet (according to him).

Biology test tomorrow, but I don't feel like studying. Just came back from piano masterclass, and my mood is just not there. >.> Actually, I don't even feel like doing anything. <.< Bah.

Off topic, The Past and Pending by The Shins is a really good song... =D

Sanctuary

2006-04-17T22:52:00.000+08:00

Changed the lyrics. It's none other than Sanctuary by Utada Hikaru, used in the game Kingdom Hearts II.

Oh yeah, about the game, I finally completed it last week. Seriously though, I could've dragged on for two or more weeks, but I forced myself to just see the ending at least once before going back to complete all the optional stuff. Just a while back, I was finishing up on all the GummiShip routes. And thanks to the "doughnut ship", was able to defeat the final boss of "Assault of the Dreadnought" without much trouble.

Sephiroth is so much easier than in KH, at least for me. His defense has seemingly dropped. At least, Fenrir was worth it. Might I add, hooray for his clear pronounciation. Descend, Heartless Angel!

And I guess, in a way, I've decided not to entirely quit FFXI. It's not really because of the expansion, but more of a personal choice. Feels kind of wasteful to put it down now, even though it may be just as stupid to continue. Whatever.

Well, it's not long before the expansion is released. *Starts another countdown*

K for Kingdom, H for Hearts

2006-04-03T23:34:00.000+08:00

Finally got the game four days after its original release date. I'm currently at the part before the 1000 heartless battle. Ah, 1000... that's a shitload, I must say. Still, with the nifty Reaction Commands, it'll make it faster.

Also, I got the guidebook today. Feels kinda like a waste of money, seeing how I managed to get this far without one. But, I just had to have it. The guidebook's extremely thick. I think it even surpasses Star Ocean: Till the End of Time.

The final thing to mention is that I finally watched V for Vendetta. Heh, it's a nice movie. Just look at that whole building go KABOOM while Tchaikovsky's 1812 Overture(is it?) plays in the background.

Well, too tired to talk about anything else.

POTION

2006-03-27T18:39:00.000+08:00

Ah, at last. I've finally decided to try out the new Final Fantasy XII POTION drink. According to some website, it's supposed to taste like Royal Jelly with some other herbs. Personally I've never taken Royal Jelly, so I don't know for sure. Though what it tasted like for me, was a "honey orangy lime" taste. (Ugh, don't really know how to say it, but meh whatever.) And yeah, there's a slight herbal taste to it. It's a little sour and bitter at first, but the aftertaste is kinda sweet. I guess the more important thing is the sweet, refreshing aftertaste, so the initial strange taste doesn't seem so bad after all.

Well, that was how it tasted, at least, for me. Unless my tastebuds are failing me or something.

Hope they'll sell the normal bottle here soon. Can't wait to drink more of it, heh.

5 more hours to the release date of Kingdom hearts 2! (Ignore the fact that shops don't open at midnight.) I don't think I can sleep tonight...

Shadow Hearts: From the New World

2006-03-26T17:26:00.000+08:00

Ugh, stupid Purgatory. There I was at floor B6 preparing for the last boss before Envious Jealousy. Unequipped the Warning Device right before heading into the boss's room, and the moment I got out of the menu screen, boom, got an encounter - surrounded by the enemy. Naturally, the damn mobs double-comboed me to death. 3 hours worth of playtime gone just like that. Sigh, should've known better.

Oh well. 2 more days to Kingdom Hearts 2...

Dead Fingers Talk

2006-03-10T00:22:00.000+08:00

Yes, the battle theme for the first half of Shadow Hearts: From the New World. I hated it when I first heard it while watching some gameplay videos. But out of the game, on its own, it's really good. Definitely something which surpassed the last two games.

Final Fantasy XII actually got a perfect review score by Weekly Famitsu. Hmm... so it really is that good. Well, 6 more days to its release, so I'll wait till then.

18 more days... (I don't need to say what it's for anymore...)

Ah, finally. It's the weekend. Well, sort of. A mere week of pathetic holidays...

Time to hit the sack.

Keep Tryin' - Utada Hikaru

2006-03-07T18:45:00.000+08:00

Nothing much has been going on lately. I wouldn't consider school as part of the "something new", I mean, it's the same routine everyday. For me, at least.

Okay, well, I changed the lyrics. This time it's the ending song of the main storyline in Tales of Legendia. Some people hate it. Sure it may be the typical love ballad found in RPGs, but I like it.
I just started on the Character Quests part of the game. Nerifes was really difficult. ><>< Oh well.

Oh, Final Fantasy XII will be released next Thusday. (Japanese one, duh) Frankly, I'm not that interested. I don't really like the new battle system, and it's not that I'm not used to it. Everyone could cast magic in the demo version. Where's the "every character is unique" factor? Seems like there would be weapon skills, but I prefer limit breaks or just a unique battle command. Hopefully it isn't like that in the game itself. Can't form any conclusions when the game hasn't even been released. I'm guessing that the story is a good one.

Sigh... Where's my Kingdom Hearts II... Argh, 21 more days!

Waiting , waiting...

2006-03-01T20:28:00.000+08:00

What!? Final Fantasy XII is going to be the last of the series? Someone posted that in a forum... is it for real?

I doubt that, though...

Oh, and 27 more days to the release of Kingdom Hearts 2!

Blah blah blah

2006-02-25T11:58:00.000+08:00

Approximately 31 days until the release of Kingdom Hearts II.

Grandia III seems nice, but I know I won't have time to complete it by the time KH2 is released.

Sigh. School is so hectic, nothing to say about it. Except maybe our class play, which turned out much better than I thought. Okay, well, looking at the script, it was quite okay, but the acting part is a totally different story. As in it was really good.

Right. I'm running out of things to say, so goodbye.

Tales of Legendia

2006-02-12T21:00:00.000+08:00

Bought it last night.

So far, 10 hours into the game, it's not too bad. Overall story progression is okay, though some parts of the dialougue seem a little slow. Battle system is rather interesting, considering this is the first "Tales of" series for me.

And well, my cold developed (developed!?) into a fever for the weekend. Head's been heavy all day and nose is almost always blocked. Haha... And I could still play games in the state I was in...

Well anyway, now that I'm okay, I better start on the shitload of homework. Else I'm boned.

5 stars, maybe...

2006-02-03T14:18:00.000+08:00

I Not Stupid Too is a really great movie.

It is something that us teenagers can relate to so much. Or should I say, Singaporean teenagers. The movie has its fair share of touching and funny moments. It's placed in a way like this - just when are you on the edge of tears, they throw in a funny part. And it happens in reverse. Still, they're quite well blended.

It's a movie with lots of lessons and positive-thinking values. Having a rotten people doesn't mean you have to throw it away; cut off the rotten part and it's still edible. (Well, something along the lines of that... It's not exactly how they said it.) There's also something about finding the key to the locked door in your life. It remains locked unless you bother to make an effort to find the key. And find more chances to look at the good side of a person, not always pinpointing the bad points. After all, no one in this world is wholly good or wholly bad.

I would recommend everyone to watch it; more so if you're a teacher or parent. (Heh heh...)