This was imported from my old
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*Anime watching period* Whee~
At least I’m some days away from being a lousy gariben again.
Since I’m now in the first day of school *again~* 2nd semester, this time. Not much profs.
1. Psychic Lover – Don’t Give Up!!
2. Creature Creature – Red
3. Miyavi – Ame ni Utaeba ^Pichi Pichi Chapu Chapu Ran Ran Blues^
4. Tetsu69 – Stay away
5. Last Alliance – Shissou
6. FFX-2 OST – Discord
7. TM Revolution – Hozo shukujo -viinasu-
8. GLAY – Ai
9. FLCL – Ride On Shooting Star
10. W.H. Robin OST – Shell
11. SID – Noir
12. Miyavi – Ippiki Ookami Ron
13. Foo Fighters – Walking After You
14. Hack Roots – Silly-Go-Round
15. Mihimaru GT – Squall
16. OLIVIA Inspi’ REIRA – Wish
17. Acid Android – Circles
18. Antique Cafe – Momo iro Pure Moto Dekiai Zakura
19. Luna Sea – End of Sorrow
20. Gazette – Filth in the Beauty
21. Psycho le Cému – Ai no Uta
22. Blood+ – Aozora no Namida
23. Full Metal Alchemist – Tobira no Mukou e
24. DNAngel Vocal Collection – Hajimari no Hi
25. Miyavi – Aho Sai ~Aho Matsuri~
26. Malice Mizer – Bel Air ~Kuuhaku no Toki no Naka de~
27. Gundam SEED Destiny – Shinkai no Kodoku
28. Vidoll – Chocoripeyes
29. Buck-Tick – Dress (Bloody Trinity Mix)
30. W-inds – Super Lover ~I need you tonight~
31. Blood+ – Colors of the Heart
*Professors suck LOL* Hah~ Now final exams are already done *actually, about more than three weeks ago* but still, the adrenaline rush and the reality has just half-sunk in.
I still can’t believe I passed OS *operating systems*, and I didn’t fail any major subject along the way. I passed COBOL, PL and FileStruct, although some are ranging from 2.75 to 3.00 .
In short, I just barely made it. Kinda kills the “enjoy the break” factor, though.
Ne, I shoulda have enjoyed this vverrry long break. But it kinda gave way for anime, music, manga and PC games. I spend my days listening to mp3s, watching AVIs of my anime collections, reading manga and some scanlations, and watching more anime until 3 AM. Luckily my parents haven’t got wind of my nocturnal activities.
And, I had my own “Leave-me-alone-for-weeks” vacation, but at the middle I kinda forgot to post an announcement in my blog. XD Gomen ne. But I’m refreshed again, and some ideas got stuck in. Just read below entries.
But I enjoyed it. I mean the solitude part. There’s nothing better than telling yourself that nobody and nothing’s gonna bother you for four hours or more in a day and you spend it lying in bed or sitting somewhere doing something you really like.
Or sometimes I play with our family pets, the dogs. I played with dogs when I was young and soon became used to dogs when I grew up.
But when I grow up and start a life, I want to have cats as pets. Yes, I’m a happy neko fan. But my father isn’t too fond of cats as pets *he dislikes their furballs* and my sisters are cat sadists, so sadly I don’t have cats as pets at home right now.
When I see some stray cats at the streets, I usually feel slightly sad because not too many people appreciate the subtlety of owning cats. But the stray cats are usually good breeds, or mixed-breeds. Dapples of orange, white, black… aww. I really love cats. But ne~way, when I see cats near our streets, I usually come over and give them a nice pat and rub the backs of their ears. Cats do not engage in battle unless provoked in a harmful way, unlike dogs and America. And they know your aura. If you exude friendliness, they sometimes would come over and let you take a pat.
Probably the dogs are man’s best friends, but sometimes best friends come in other forms than a dog. They’re excellent guards and adorable pets *only when they’re weakly pups*, but the disadvantage lies in them attracting lice, critters and other dogs, Not to mention if they’re female they breed like crazy. The dogs can’t self-clean, and within weeks they stink like my sisters at weekends. I know, because I’m the one that gives the dogs their weekly baths.
Nya~ I just wish I could have one cat right now, but I think I can wait.
After waiting aimlessly, I just had the idea of tabulating again. I mean my DVD collection of animes. So far, I amassed 26 titles of anime in 4 months of my first semester in UST.
But looking back, I kinda feel a lil’ bit guilty shelling out cash for copies of those animes from Quiapo. They sell it for 35 a DVD, 2 times cheaper than what 2Rats or Hobbypoint sells it for. But WTH, they’re both stealers. So I’ll go for the cheaper ones.
The advantage at Quiapo is they have a rotation. I mean they change their wares every three days or so, and usually they have these ones that I haven’t heard of but are really good, like “Aishiteruze Baby” or “Lamune”. Hobbypoint, 2Rats or ComicQuest rely on a limited supply, so they suck at that. And rarely at Quiapo you would return any defective anime CDs, which is a miracle in itself in piracy world.
And the prices are reasonable. The animes are from fansubs *I noticed also that they are mostly from a fansub group called “LunarAnime”*, which entails you to assume they should not be sold as is anywhere, and they’re basically FREE. But in Quiapo, you would only pay for the printed cover, the burning costs, the plastic cover, and the physical DVD disk. Which is near close in cost to Php 35.00. I did not pay for the download costs. So in effect the fansubbed animes are free of charge. Just like RedHat and Linux. Linux is basically free, but RedHat packages them as user-friendly CDs, with additional helpware and softwares, and other miscellaneous help, and sells it as a package. You just pay for the CD and packaging costs.
* takes Kyouya’s calculator: Php 20.00 for burning a DVD *very reasonable* , Php 9.00 for the DVD disk cost *if they bought it at CDR-King* , Php 1.00 for the plastic cover , and Php 5.00 for the printed labels *
In 2Rats and the rest of those fricky ripoffers, they sell it in outlandishly high prices that you think they sell the fansubs. Fansubs are free. Their CDs are mostly defective, as I usually overhear at their counters. The only good 2Rats and ComicQuest and Hobbypoint has for me is their array of anime paraphernalia, like BLEACH bankai replicas, Naruto keychains and Fullmetal Alchemist blings. Other than that, I say F**K OFF.
I think the 2Rats chain can’t complain about this. They’re both pirates, for God’s sake. Pirates hate fellow pirates, as adages usually say. So if they whine to Edu Manzano *the chair of the OMB, which is the gov’t agency for piracy raids* they would also be included in his list of raided stores. He he. Pretty icky situation. So Quiapo continues to thrive while these rats suck their tweedy thumbs and wait for their filthy rich *and ignorant* DVD customers.
Next semester I plan to buy some more. Like “Meine Liebe” last time.
Last time I buyed in Quiapo, in relation to that, I was enticed by some of the wares they sell in the music section. They actually have a Dir en Grey live concert DVD!
In Quiapo, there’s only four sections: the movies, the animes, the music, and the softwares. I was kinda surprised they sell Diru goodies. I looked further, and ho~~ra, they have Amuro Namie and Hamasaki Ayumi live DVDs! T_T But sadly, my cash is already invested on five anime titles I bought that day, and the last time I bought last semester. So I just hope they still have those when I return by November 11.
But remember, nothing beats ORIGINALS. Original music CDs, I mean. It comes with free items I reeealllly liked, like posters, collectible cards, and most of all, it is an investment.
So far *ticks fingers off* I have only eight CDs, four of which are albums and the rest are singles.
Oh, by the way, they sell it by Php 60.00 per DVD, about $ 1.20. Glossy hardpaper cover, high-quality gloss print. Very very cheap. Kinda.
I’m kinda engrossed by Pani Poni Dash!.
This particular anime confounded me a lot. It seems that the creators of this stupendous series were nefarious geeks who indulged in game shows, old movies, western flicks, and other anime series as well. Typical Japanese, but I think they’re one step higher than them. *~maho!*
Pure cross-referencing artistry at its best, just like what Quentin Tarantino did in Pulp Fiction.
I recommend this series for those people getting used to bishounen, yuri, kawaii, and bun-buns. But frankly, I’m not tired of watching any kind and genre of anime either. Example, “Ouran HS Host Club”, which is full of homos, bun-buns, bishounen and the wacky genre of shojo manga *yaku-haremu!!* which I reeeaaallllyyyy also liked with PPD! . So again, if you like something weirdly different, try Pani Poni Dash!.
* watches “Loveless” *
Oh, speaking of “Loveless”. I reeeaaaalllllyyyy liked the ending song for this series done by Kaori Hikita. It’s entitled “Michiyuki“.
If I want to sleep really badly, I put this in my mp3 player. Then turn it on infinite loop basis. XD
I liked the rhythm especially the calmness of the song. It really drives me peacefully to sleep. Even at brownouts, this one saves me the energy of trying hopelessly to shut down my eyes and sleep.
I told my dad once I’m straightforward when I sleep. When I feel sleepy, I sleep. I don’t sleep when I don’t feel a bit sleepy. At least he understood what I meant.
But my dad can’t understand some things I think are already facts.
First off would be the “Philippine Idol” voting procedures. This imported good solicits votes through text and phone lines from viewers and usues it as a basis for the “eliminations”. But, my dad points out the part of the so-called “responsible” voters, which raises the questions in the voters voting what is the best and what is not.
Truth be told, it’s a sad reality. Voters aren’t perfect, and not all voters are responsible enough, or sometimes aren’t knowledgeable enough. Proof? See the 1998 incident regarding the Philippine presidential elections. The majority of voters in the country voted, frankly, for insanity. The same with “American Idol”. Sometimes, we can see a good singer get booted out even if his performance was nothing short of phenomenal.
And, of course, it applies to any democratically-based contests such as “Philippine Idol”. Since the voting is obviously majority-based on SMS, voters can text like crazy until their thumbs look like oblong tomatoes for their favorite singer/s. And they can be like, “flying” voters. Also, they can convince other people to text also for their game person, even though these people do not watch the show, so there’s the factor for ignorant voters. My father added that singers should be voted based on performance quality and talent, but, sadly, it’s also not the case.
Face it, the whole “Idol” thing is based BOTH on talent and popularity. The word “Idol” itself sums it up. You can’t be an idol unless you have a following. No use if you have talent the size of a Philippine politician’s ego, but you aren’t that popular, and you’ll likely end up in a dump. But sadly, if you sound like a frog but you have excessive charisma and hugantic amounts of pheromones, you likely end up being a serious contender to win a singing contest. Sad realities taste bad in the mouth, but we do have to swallow it. But neither do I want to breed complacency in this issue. We can only hope and appeal for responsible voting, for us to do what’s right and for them to rightfully understand what’s really right.
So far I’m really kinda understanding the magnitude of my course just last week.
Since it’s third year already, one careless mistake, one faux pas, one single bump can derail my chances of graduating on time. Especially if it happens on a first semester.
Enough horsing around for me. Aside from now finding a suitable place for me to have my internship, I have to concentrate on the second semester coming. If I fail one of the three prerequisite subjects for intern, I’m gonna be delayed for one year. And it’s not too good to have a so-called “fifth year”.
And, also I have to find a suitable thesis topic and start the hell right at the start of the second semester building Kevlar and MG steel around it. A topic that could be considered a “topic” and is as inexpensive to do as possible. I’ve heard of horror stories *tragically, all are real* of students languishing in limbo because they haven’t had yet a thesis topic, and are still now in a big pinch. Omega pinch.
So, four targets for the second semester: One, pass. Second, find a place to have my internship. Then, have a thesis topic list ready for the first semester in fourth year. Lastly…
… buy more anime.
Ciao!!
Briathrail // Albert 2MNG 
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