This was imported from my old
BlogDrive blog posts.
For a little change, holiday greetings galore.
For Christians/Catholics: MERRY CHRISTMAS!! yay~ *delayed by about 3 days*
For Protestants/INCs/Adventists/Non-Catholics: HAPPY HOLIDAYS!
For Muslims: I wish you the best of health in another one of your “Eid” holidays.
If you’ll notice, I included some songs on the list below that’s wholly or partly Christmas-themed, like “Red”, “Le Ciel”, “Winter Lander!!” and “Fruitcake”. Well, I dunno, but Dir en Grey was a difficult choice with “Berry”. The same with Gazette’s “Red Motel”. Well, not all JRock/V-Kei groups has anything that would suit a happy theme. I originally opted for “Silly God Disco” but I think that would be sending the wrong signals even though it’s a boppy theme. ~yay XD (* marks holiday-themed)
1. FFVII Advent Children OST – Tifa no Theme (Piano Version)
2. DNAngel Vocal Collection – Yasashii Gogo
3. Moi Dix Mois – Forbidden
4. Negima Character Album OST – Wish Upon a Star
5. AAA – Winter Lander!! *
6. Meine Liebe OST – Lux aeterna
7. Noir OST III – Kirei na Kanjou
8. Rivermaya – 214
9. Eraserheads – Fruitcake *
10. Ouran High School Host Club – Sakura Kiss
11. Azumanga Daioh – Soramimi Cake *
12. TM Revolution – Burnin’ X’mas *
13. W-inds – Midnight Venus *
14. Ellegarden – Marie *
15. Gazette – Red Motel *
16. Angela Aki – This Love *
17. Malice Mizer – Le Ciel ~Kuhaku no Kanata e~
18. Dir en Grey – Berry *
19. KOTOKO – Hajimemashite, Koi
20. Orange Range – Asterisk
21. Miyavi – Are you ready to ROCK ~Rhythm Battle MIX~
22. SID – Aoi Renga
23. Takahashi Hitomi – Bokutachi no Yukue
24. Creature Creature – Red *
25. Buck-Tick – Kagerou
26. Mihimaru GT – So Merry Christmas -TAKE 06- *
27. Psycho le Cému – Yume Kazaguruma
28. Hyde – Midnight Celebration *
29. Full Metal Alchemist – Tobira no Mukou e
30. Noir OST III – Secret
31. Fruits Basket OST – Jokyoku (Overture)
Since the 20th of December (or so depending on student loafiness) I have been on vacation. This holiday vacation (and self-procrastination and masochism period all in one) would last until the 2nd of January, 2007. So, *ticks off fingers* that’s exactly 2 weeks.
But, the start vacation did go bumpy.
First, at the 20th *5 days ago* I have to be with my DBMS/SAD group to finish our friggin’ case study about a DBMS software called “Informix”.
Naturally, I have to find a copy of THAT software. It’s an exquisite software *since it’s a block and too many updates and tools* and I had great difficulty finding legal *and illegal* copies of it in Quiapo and Morayta. I did not find one.
So I went to the IBM website *which owns Informix* and downloaded a 30-day trial copy of it. It was… well, huge. And since me and my el grupo downloaded it in a internet cafe, we tried to install it there. But, trouble. We cannot install it. So, back to the drawing board.
Our leader suggested we fine-comb the instruction and features PDF that came with our download and figure out its features. After about 4 hours, we finished our complete case study. Nah, not all in a day. Boss Warren and Carlos did some of it at home before that day. But most of our research was done on the 20th. So, I’m ready to go home for 20… phase two.
Since my Dad insisted, I have to come with my youngest sister Angela to the “UST Paskuhan 2006”, which included free food and fireworks display. And lots of people and great light decors too.
But my sister was unprepared for the long trip to UST. Since her grade school is just a few blocks away from our home, and my university is a one-hour trip, she was pretty bored. We rode in an FX just to make sure she didn’t feel queasy and suffer projectile vomiting, which is never a good situation to be with.
We arrived about 5.30 pm. As expected, there are a LOT of people who want to get in. Too many Thomasians without IDs and haggling with the ID-searching guards is what I arrived on. The guards, expectedly thought of outsiders enjoying undue parties *well, those did not pay any tuition fees to start with and Paskuhan is a Thomasian-exclusive party*, did not let anyone in without an ID. So, earlier, I grabbed my ID and stuffed it in my bag. The guards allowed a Thomasian to bring two peeps with him/her to the party, so my sister went by unquestioned. And expectedly, we arrived at the ceremonial start mass, so my sister and I went to the nearest campus McDonald’s at the Acc Building and waited for the mass to end.
My Thomasian freshman sister was nowhere to be found. Probably with her boyfriend. ~bleh.
So, after the mass, we sat at the lush green field *which became an instant picnic place* and waited for the fireworks to begin. As soon as the mass ended, they lighted the giant Christmas tree… and the booms began.
It was like ~Wow. Huge ones. Cracklers. Fountains. Multicolored pompoms up in the sky. Anyway, since this is the second time I’ve been to this display, I didn’t have that “Freshman Reaction” like excessive oohs and ahhs I heard all over the place. But my sister was overwhelmed. The naivety kicked in.
After that shorter-than-last-year fireworks display, I fell in line to the nearest McDonalds booth for my free doleout. It was like seeing a line of refugees piling up for relief goods. At the line, I settled for Package #2, which contained a Chicken Fillet with rice, a Cheeseburger, and a single pack of juice. I gave my sister the Chicken Fillet, and we dug right in.
Subtopic: The Ootori Kyouya Fastfood Principles
If you watched “Ouran High School Host Club” or have read the manga, there’s a part where Kyouya and Haruhi had this impromptu date of sorts. Since Kyouya was unconsciously dragged by the Host-bu leader Tamaki to a local commoner mall without any money or cellphone communication, he was saved by Haruhi, who was just there for window shopping. Since Kyouya had no breakfast yet, they went to the nearest fastfood place to eat. Of course, Kyouya has no cash with him, so he borrowed some of Haruhi’s money.
TRANSCRIPT:
*inside a restaurant… uses an inverted logo of McDonald’s*
Kyouya: Haruhi, how do we order here?
Haruhi: Let me handle that. What do you want?
Kyouya: Something of substance.
Haruhi: *Okay* Then one of this and that, please.
Cashier: *Kyaa… he’s so handsome* Thank you! Would you want some dessert?
Kyouya: No sweets for me, thanks.
Cashier: *So kakkoii* How about our new milkshake?
Kyouya: *in a cold front face* I said I don’t want any.
*cold psychological wind goes over*
*goes to a vacant table*
Haruhi: Kyouya, even if you’re in a bad mood, can’t you be a little bit nicer? She’s only doing her job.
Kyouya: *Hmp* Why should I be? Aggressive customer service isn’t necessarily the right way to treat patrons.
*eating at the table*
*Haruhi stares intently at Kyouya’s burger eating*
Kyouya: Hm…?
Haruhi: Um… you sure go at your food, don’t you? I just expected you’d be a little refined… and I’m surprised you actually like the food.
Kyouya: I don’t like this food. But do you think I’d be so inhuman as to complain after you treated me?
Haruhi: No, but… *Actually, yes.*
Kyouya: It’s fast food. The whole selling point is that it’s quick, and it’s easy to scarf down. Eating it this way makes it palatable. Besides… be it prince or swine, it doesn’t matter what people think of me here.
Haruhi: I guess there ae pressures like that in the world of rich people.
Kyouya: Look… all I’m saying is that there’s no benefit for acting classy in a place like this, unless you’d care to make it worth my while.
Haruhi: *I should have known…*
So, I ended up eating the burger quickly. As Bisco Hatori wrote, fast food is more delicious if you scarf it down as fast as a normal burger eater would. It was good. But unlike the cheeseburger I earlier ate at the McDo place at the Acc Building which I ate as slow as possible, the burger wasnt good to finish to eat. It was like blander. So, lesson: eat fastfood literally. Fast.
So, after eating and a little bit of touring the enchanting “Lover’s Lane”, me and my lil’ sis went home. Again, it was another 1-hour ride, so my sister was pretty bored again. She nearly slept at the ride home. For me, back to regular programming again. I went to my TV and watched a PBA game pitting Ginebra and Red Bull. It was a good day after all, my favorite team Ginebra won.
After the vacation, I watched some of my borrowed and bought anime series and re-watched old series I had. I started watching at 10pm and ended at most 4.30am. That’s about 5 hours of sheer night crawling. I essentially became a midnight otaku, living on cappucino shakes and Biscocho.
Here was my schedule for the past 5 days:
21: Fate/Stay Night, Onegai Teacher, Lamune, Petshop of Horrors
22: Gundam SEED, Mahou Sensei Negima, Hellsing, Galaxy Angels Season I
23: Amenaide, Jigoku Shoujo, Ai Yori Aoshi, xxxHOLiC
24: Strawberry Panic, Genshiken, Trinity Blood, Suzuka
25: Pani Poni Dash!, Blood+, ROD TV, Aishiteruze Baby
If you’d notice, I manage to watch 4 series per day. But I don’t watch it entirely, as in minute per minute, or I’d end up being in rigor mortis. I skip some minutes off, like editing a whole reel of “Survivor”. Second point: I have no particular interest in settling for a definite anime genre, so I keep any anime. I meant any. Tatoeba, I have comedy, romance, action, horror, and even mixed-gender romances. If I’m to be frank, I have Kashimashi, Strawberry Panic, Gakuen Heaven, and Gravitation, which is four of the most notorious yuri-yaoi series available in the Japanese market. In personal issues, I’m straight; but in regards to anime, I don’t have any inhibition watching any genre. It’s the basic anime concept: freedom. And in my case, any anime would do. But there are certain rules I abide on before buying one. XD
First, a Wikipedia visit would do. Or if Wiki doesn’t have it, I’ll just google for it and see 4 points I would like to see as “Great! I’ll buy this one!” type of reactiveness.
- Artwork – well, art is a must. I don’t want to see anything that would resemble the 80’s (Akira is an exception) type of anime artwork. I can’t describe the artworks I prefer, but I go with Donald Trump’s golden rule: Trust your gut. When I see artwork, a gut feeling tells me that this would be just fine, or otherwise. So far I wasn’t wrong with my gut feeling with regards to artwork.
- Storyline – anything straight, could be loopy but has substance, and story must have literary body. It must be something I can dig right in on, and could range from comedy to horror. No sour grapes, lemons or overripe peaches are entertained.
- Length – and here comes the one that’s economically inclined. I usually buy the 26-35 episode anime series. The longest I have are BLEACH, Gundam SEED, GS Destiny, and Blood+. Legth is OK, so as long that the story isn’t mangled up like paper in a shredding machine. I don’t want a length, say, like One Piece, Dragonball Z, Pokemon, or even Detective Conan. Don’t get me wrong; these are great, great, great anime series. But I don’t think it would be good for my physical and financial health to collect these. My wallet would beg for mercy.
- Availability – hell, this is most important. I’m not in Japan. So, these anime series are just in the stores waiting for anime otakus to dig right in. But if I had the three earlier points, say I got an anime that’s real good, but Quiapo or 2Rats or Hobbypoint doesn’t have it, well, back to the drawing board. But I keep a list dandy at my DBMS notebook containing all anime series I found that’s A-mark. I usually fish it out of my bag when I’m buying. XD
PS: I could have gone on to 26 and 27, but Brigadier General Daddy-no-Balls *that’s what I call my dad when I’m thoroughly pissed* took the family’s DVD player out of my room since he was the first to notice my nocturnal tendencies. Since then, the past two days became the “Dug Out My Anime VCDs and the old VCD Player” days for me. Let my old man eat cake. Daaammmnnnn… Psh. I’ll think I’ll buy one for mehself. But I’ll have to sacrifice some likings.
In terms of music, well, there’s one place my dad couldn’t even touch by an inch. Probably he was weirded out the day last year when he walked in my room while I was playing a track of L~Arc~en~Ciel. I think it was “Anemone”. Imagine your Beatles-and-Sinatra typical Dad going inside the 21st century. In this case, gone inside my room. And since then, he didn’t even try asking anything about my musical tendencies. Thank God for language barriers… and L~Arc~en~Ciel. Hehe.
Probably I’m going in my fourth year of being a J-music lover. I started last 2003 when I saw Utada Hikaru on an MTV commercial. Since then, and more than 4,000 mp3s later, I’m here and still getting a dose of this crack they call J-music. Hehe. And while I’m writing this, I just remembered Gail-neechan’s slogan. J-crack. *:P*
But reviewing this whole year… well, I’m compiling another year-ender top 100 songs I liked this year. This time, it’s based on my mp3 record, my nonchalant flippance, and a little bit of last-minute judgment. Oha, and by the way. I’ll have a new layout net year. It’s quite orange, so I think it’s a new color for my site *I used to have blue, black, white, gray, and typical bleh-types.
Currently, I’m trying to find a BUCK-TICK discography on the ‘net. If anybody has it, please, can you upload it? I will greatly appreciate it.
Even though it’s not yet December 31 or January 1, but here in the Philippines, every night since the 20th became a virtual war zome complete with the requiems of death. Imagine a night where kids are blowing firecrackers off while some guy who’s not vocally gifted belting out a Perry Como tune. Definitely could test your sanity *In my case, I’m watching a good anime series and getting a bit disturbed while these people bang away their cash on petty zilch*.
And since I’m in a Third World country chock-full of pyromaniacs in Metro Manila, it’s getting to my nerves. These good-for-a-few-asswhooping-bollocks even invented a thing they call a “boga” that emits a goddamned loud sound. I do not know the inspiration behind the stupid-sounding name, but I think they’re not far off from being fingerless buffoons. This “boga” consists of a big PVC pipe fitted with a trigger. The pipe is open at both ends. One sprays a solution *some peeps call it filtered alcohol* at the other end and pull the trigger. I do not know anything other things inside the pipe, but when you pull the trigger, a shot of light and a bang is emitted at the end of the pipe. And, probably a flash of sanity left, they point it skywards. I hear there’s makers of it everywhere earning some bling and cash off this nifty invention. Well, merchants of temporary fun, or sellers of slick slashing. Whatever. But their contraption’s disturbing everyone in our neighborhood *excluding these Huns, of course*, robbing us of a good night’s rest. Thank God some local guards are securing the area lately. In my case again, a good night’s anime watching experience again.
Ciao! Hope to see you on a merrier new year!
Briathrail // Albert 2MNG 
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