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Thursday, October 30th, 2008
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Monday, October 27th, 2008
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| Subject: | The usual random updates |
| Time: | 10:23 pm. |
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- UndeadJournal ftw!
- Tagging along to see Spring Awakening next month. Don't know how good the music will be, but considering the main character is "the radical, intelligent, and good-looking Melchior" [wiki], at least I know I'll be able to relate to it, yeah? ;)
- Did my first outdoors rock climbing at Mission Gorge in SD last week - wow, that was scary at first, but a lot of fun. Will probably be months years until I can do anything impressive, but hey, having fun and getting a good workout in the meantime ain't half bad.
- Panic! concert was good. Weezer concert was great. They did this crazy thing where they invited people in the area to bring their instruments to play with them on stage. They ended up with about 30-40 random people, with everything ranging from guitars to trombones, from saxophones to accordians, and even an electric cello. I'll tell you, you haven't truly heard Island in the Sun until you've heard it with a trombone solo. ;)
- Have some vacation time the weekend after Thanksgiving. Wondering if it's a good time to finally take a mini-vacay to NorCal. Also, dying to do skydiving sometime in early December. But, ugh, how I hate planning things.
- Can't think of a good ending bullet, so here, for anyone that hasn't seen it, Ninja Cat!
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Comments: Read 9 or Add Your Own.
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Wednesday, October 1st, 2008
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Saturday, September 20th, 2008
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So, I've had possibly my worst tech experience ever last night, dealing with upgrading my OEM 32-bit Vista to 64-bit Home Premium using an upgrade version. I did a good amount of research before buying the upgrade, to make sure it was viable. I found a lot of conflicting reports, but no official sources said I shouldn't be able to. So, here goes my adventure!
0) Did the obvious step of backing everything up - haven't used much of my 150x2 GB RAID 0 HD, so only had to chuck a few things out to fit it into my 160 GB External HD.
1) Tried installing it from Windows - got the message that I'm not able to open this type of application with my current OS. (Makes sense, I thought, that I'd have to boot from the DVD to do any type of install.)
2) Booted from DVD - halfway along, it gave me the option of formatting drives. I decided even before this started that if I could have the option of getting back a clean slate without the install being a pain in the ass, I'd go for it. So, I formatted my C:
3) Next, it's time to select the drive to install the Upgrade to. Uh-oh! When I select C:, it's telling me that I have to have an existing install of Vista for it to perform the upgrade. "Errr, wtf? I just had a working install, until you guys let me format it 2 seconds ago."
4) Panic.
5) "Breathe deeply. Not the end of the world. I'm sure you have something in the bundled software you've never ever had to look through that could help." And, ah-ha! Found a recovery disc.
6) Got Vista working again via the recovery disc. Went back to the boot-up install to try again - turns out, regardless of having a working install or not, you're supposed to run any upgrade installs from the OS. "But, a-dur, that's what I was doing before..."
7) Went back to Vista and confirmed that I could not run the 64-bit setup from 32-bit Vista. *scratches head*
8) Researched online. Someone else seemed to have a similar issue, and he got around it by fresh installing XP, then upgrading to 64-bit Vista. Sounded a bit roundabout, but decided to give it a try.
9) Searched through about 5 CD spindles and found my old copy of XP. Booted from the XP disc, got to the install menu, and found that it detected my hard drive, but somehow, only with 148 GB. *scratches head some more* "Okay, the obvious explanation must be that it's not detecting my RAID properly... so, it's only picking up 150 GB of the 300 total. Not sure if the install will still work, but let's give it a shot!"
10) Formatted the drive and installed XP. Booted computer to find myself booted in... Vista?
11) *MAJOR SCRATCHING OF HEAD HERE* "Maybe, because of the raid, the format install didn't go through properly? But that took an awfully long time for a failed install..."
12) Boot from disc, formatt, and install again, watching carefully this time. No error messages, nothing seeming amiss. Boot up, still in Vista.
13) Decide to check on my CD to see if maybe it's not formatting, and I just have XP and Vista both installed at the same time. Notice my external hard drive is empty.
14) *SCREAM PROFANITIES*
15) *cry*
*Explanation - when XP setup showed me my discs, that 148 GB disc wasn't my half-detected RAID 0 - it was my external HD. The whole time while I was trying to install XP, I was formatting and installing to the external, aka MY BACKUP. Thankfully, I have a 2 week old backup of my 50 GB, OCD-level organized music collection, but I lost everything else, including a file that contains all my usernames/passwords for online sites... I'm going to have a FUN time doing bills this month.
16) Research some more. Find a post which explained an interesting loophole. Basically, you load up upgrade Vista and don't enter a product key. It'll then install an evaluation 64-bit Vista, and from there, you can run the upgrade to activated 64-bit Vista. Do so, and install the whole thing without a hitch.
17) Lament my lost data, and treat myself to a much needed slumber.
*THE END*
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Comments: Read 5 or Add Your Own.
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Sunday, September 14th, 2008
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| Subject: | Couple of new hobbies |
| Time: | 12:22 pm. |
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- Rock climbing. Not something most of you expected from me, I'm sure, right? Especially since I'm pretty far from being the strongest guy around. But it's actually really interesting how much strategy and creativity comes into play, and I find it very mentally stimulating, as well as being a good workout. Hopefully, this can be for me now what DDR was for me years ago - something I can enjoy steadily improving at, while making me sweat at the same time. And if I finally get around to start riding a bike to work, then I might actually be on my way to being in good shape. o_o (Which I really do want to do, but there are several logistic issues I still need to tackle, like lack of room to store a bike at my studio and lack of bike racks at my work. ~_~ )
- Piano - finally, after all my years of saying I want to learn it, I am. Hopefully setting lessons up at least once (if not twice) a week to keep me focused and motivated, and have been listening to classical music a lot more this past month to get my mind in the mood.
Speaking of which, I've been spending a lot time in the last couple of weeks trying to buff up my classical collection. Here's what I have so far, so if anyone has recommendations for anything else I should try out, please let me know.
Bach - Concerto for 2 Violins
Beethoven - Symphony 3, 5, 9, Violin Concerto, and Piano Concerto 5.
Brahms - Symphony 1-4, Violin Concertoof a burden than a joy. So, let me know what crucial pieces I might be missing. FYI, out of the above, Rachmaninoff is currently my favorite - both his Piano Concerto 2 and Symphony 2 rock my socks. I'd actually love to get his Piano Sonatas, but the only torrent I can find is in .wma
Dvorak - Cello Concerto, Violin Concerto, Symphony 9
Haydn - Symphony 22, 88, 94, 101
Holst - The Planets
Mahler - Symphony 1-9
Mendelssohn - Violin Concerto
Mozart - Symphony 25, 41
Prokofiev - Cello Sonata, Piano Concerto 3, Symphony 5, Romeo and Juliet
Rachmaninoff - Cello Sonata, Piano Concerto 2-3, Symphony 2-3, Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini, The Bells, Isle of the Dead
Sibelius - Violin Concerto
Tchaikovsky - Piano Concerto 1-2, Violin Concerto, Symphony 6, Romeo and Juliet Overture, 1812 Overture, Swan Lake
Vivaldi - Four Seasons
My goal is that I'm not drowning in a bunch of music I'll never listen to - it'd be easy to download all Haydn's 110 Symphonies or Mozart's 20 bajillion OPs, but since it's important for me to actively listen to music (and not just have it playing in the background), having too much could easily end up being more of a burden than something I can enjoy. FYI, my favorite so far is Rachmaninoff - his Piano Concerto 2 and Symphony 2 both rock my socks. I'm actually dying to get a collection of his Piano Sonatas, but the only one I've found so far on torrents is all in .wma format, which is no good for someone absolutely fascist about his music collection.
Oh, and on another random tangent - I can now do a Rubik's Cube. Currently around 3:00 during a corners method, hoping to whittle it down to 2 min average eventually.
Oh, and on (even another) random tangent, this guys owns us all. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L3AgO6H0H98
Anyway, off to visit LACMA with my cousin today - later all!
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Comments: Read 11 or Add Your Own.
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Monday, September 1st, 2008
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| Subject: | Random updates |
| Time: | 10:08 am. |
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- Need to stop splurging ~_~ I just spent probably around $250 ordering various piano arrangement sheet music from Japanese sites. X Japan/Yoshiki, Bump of Chicken, Chihiro Onitsuka[1], L'Arc~en~Ciel, Chrono Trigger, Final Fantasy 6... ummm, is that enough yet? ;x Yeah, and not even counting the hundreds of dollars I've spent on Kiki, or the Armani watch I just bought (not as expensive as it sounds...) So yeah, never going to save money like this... this is the last splurge! But hopefully all that musical goodness will be enough to motivate me to learn piano. Now, just need to find a tutor that won't charge me an arm and a leg. o_o (... anyone here interested? ;) )
- New place is working out pretty well. Picked up my roommate about 3 weeks ago, and he's starting to settle in. Really scared me at first, because he wouldn't eat for the first two days or so... but that's probably normal, considering the shock of moving and all. It also took me about 2 weeks to finally come up with a name. Since he still hasn't learned to fly, I thought Kiki would be a cute and fitting name.
- GLAY concerts were amazing. Teru has an insane amount of energy as a front man... he was nonstop the first night, and I thought, "Wow, wonder if he'll be dead tired tomorrow." Then, Saturday night, he had double the energy! Those Japanese musicians... all freaks I say. ;P The only qualm I had is that they played a lot of stuff from their new album instead of the old classics I know... I know that's what they have to do to promote their new stuff, but I would've loved for a better balance. Also, I heard they covered Suffragette City in their NorCal show. But we did get Beautiful Dreamer, Winter Again, and Kanojo no Modern, so definitely not bad at all.
- Upcoming concerts - Panic! at the Disco[2], and Weezer with Dashboard Confessionals and Tokyo Police Club, both in October. Also considering picking up tickets for Swan Lake, being performed by the Russian National Ballet in Jan. Never been to a ballet, and Swan Lake = Tchaikovsky love, so should be awesome.
... and that's all I can think of. ;x
Footnotes:
[1] - Amazon only had sheet music for Insomnia =( Would've killed for This Armor/Sugar High as well >.>
[2] - Yes, I'm still using the ! after Panic. Just like Gazette will always be Gazette to me, and not "the GazettE"
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Comments: Read 16 or Add Your Own.
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Sunday, August 17th, 2008
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Imagine your favorite musician. Then, imagine being at a concert, and noticing that person is sitting less than 5 feet away from you. This is a once-in-a-life-time opportunity to meet him or her... but s/he's enjoying the show. How rude would it be to try and strike up a conversation in the middle of a concert? So it ends up with him/her leaving without you getting a chance to say anything.
... *le sigh*
Oh well, still a little happy I at least got to be in his aura... XD
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Comments: Read 19 or Add Your Own.
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Saturday, July 12th, 2008
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Sorry I haven't been responding to people... so much to worry about with moving. Today's the day though! Bad news is that I won't get internet until Wednesday. Good news is that I plan to have two computers up there - planning to keep AIM always on on one, so I'll actually be contactable.
Anyway, have an awesome weekend everyone!
Schedule of upcoming events:
OC Fair: tomorrow
Magic Mountain: Tuesday (want to do the sky dive =DDD )
Eddie Izzard - Aug 5th
GLAY + GLAY-con - Aug 15th-17th
Note: Yuri Nakamura of Garnet Crow has a beautiful voice... I think she's now my second favorite female vocalist (after Chihiro Onitsuka, of course).
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Comments: Read 5 or Add Your Own.
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Saturday, June 28th, 2008
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| Subject: | Updates |
| Time: | 9:56 pm. |
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1) Just signed the lease today for a place in Tustin. Studio for 1025 - not in "nice" Tustin, but the place isn't bad. 503 sq ft, washer/dryer, about 20 yards (yes, 20 yards) away from a couple of lighted tennis courts, also pretty close to the fitness center and pool, downstairs, close to the 5 around Tustin Marketplace, and about a 5-10 min commute to work.
Wewt.
2) Glay info here: http://www.jrockrevolution.com/news/jrock-news/68-jrock-news/509-glay-to-play-3-stops-in-california.html
There's going to be a Norcal concert as well, and both a Friday and Saturday showing down here. Tickets for HoB will be around $40 (closer to $50 with TM). Don't know about getting pre-sale tickets yet, though >_<
3) Going to be the best man for my Dad's wedding this Sunday. I keep getting asked "how I feel" about it, which is funny, because I never even really thought about it. I guess I can see why they'd ask, though, so, after thinking about it, the answer is this: she's a good person, they're a good couple, and I think they'll make each other happy, so I'm glad. If anything, I just feel bad for my Dad because he just finished getting rid of me and my brother, and now he'll have 3 more sons to take care of now XD. But anyway, also have family coming from New York, so with that and rehearsals, should be a crazy week. I feel exhausted already. @_@
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Comments: Read 17 or Add Your Own.
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| Subject: | The usual |
| Time: | 1:16 am. |
| Music: | Yoko Kanno - Din Don Dan Dan (RO II OST). |
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So I started up a character on Rohan, and enjoyed it for a fair bit... but, most likely, I'm not going to continue. Not as many old Fiesta friends as I thought ended up joining, and the grind is ridiculous. I'm only in the 30s and I can already feel it getting bad, and this game goes up to 99. Thanks, but no thanks. Plus, the item mall just opened today... and I can already see where this is going. Despite how much I resist, the grind will eventually get to me, and to keep up I'll end up paying who-knows-how-much-more to pay a free game of less quality than a pay game. So,nuh-uh. Not letting that happen. >.>
(I've also heard rumors that the exp/drop rate was substantially nerfed compared to the JP version... an obvious ploy to the grind worse to create more demand for pay shops, which is only worsened by the fact that it'll work for a lot of people. *sigh*)
So, no clue what's next. To tell you the truth, despite my backlog of really great games that I'm sure I'll enjoy, I'm not really feeling up to playing any of them. Even though I've never played the original, I'm really curious to see how RO II turns out - at least I already know I enjoy the music (surprise surprise? XD ). I'm getting that urge to learn something new - tennis, piano, or maybe take up the good ol' sax again. I've actually had an idea to do a medley of sax solo arrangements of anime/game OSTs - like Ramen and Rice, but obviously not in the same league. Still, a jazz version of "Yume no Naka e" sounds pretty awesome in my head - if I could even get close to that, I'm sure it'd be worth it.
Bad news with the NY trip, that I've just heard (so behind - I should be ashamed to call myself an X fan D= ). Not really sure how I should feel, although I know for a fact that if anything else, I just want Yoshiki to be OK. Even if that means postponing MSG, or even if that means canceling MSG. Although, I'd hope if it came down to that, they'd still do a live, but without Yoshiki drumming. Not sure how many other people feel about that, but personally, I have very much Yoshiki piano <3. Anyway, I have people that still want to go for the Broadway stuff, so I guess I'll still go, even though there's only a chance they'll play. It's worth it for the chance, and even if they don't, it's not like New York won't be a blast anyway. =D
Anyway, should probably get to sleep soon... but hey, TGIF, right? Cheers everyone!
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Comments: Read 7 or Add Your Own.
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| Subject: | Catching up.... |
| Time: | 8:10 pm. |
| Music: | Rent - Another Day. |
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Uggggh... crazy packed weekend, including Rent (awesome), the Hollywood Miyavi concert (very painful, but awesome), and the San Diego Zoo (a bit less painful, but still awesome... AVIARIES!). And so now I'm back to online land, with random quick updates.
Probably not going to Fanime-con this year. I definitely considered it, but it'll be a hassle AND expensive to plan a flight/hotel this late, and it's not like driving would be that much cheaper, considering my car and the gas prices. So.... =(
Planning to move out, probably in mid-July. Will use the long weekend to check out what's out there, but hoping for a cheap studio/1-room around Tustin, so I won't be too far from work. It'll be expensive to live alone, but a recent psychological profile claims that I need my alone time, so I guess a hermit I'll be. ^^
Also planning to go to New York for the Sept 13th X Japan concert. I won't be around long, though - I have a teammate taking all of Sept off, so I definitely shouldn't be away long. It'll probably be a Wednesday late night flight, then a stay in Manhattan from Thursday to Saturday, trying to catch as many shows as possible, and leaving Sunday mid-day. It'll be a little crazy, but I guess I'm pretty used to it by now. XD
Totally back into PC games - missed a lot of good stuff while not having a decent computer for years. Finished Half-life 2/Ep1/Ep2 in the past few weeks - it definitely deserves every ounce of praise it gets. Also played Oblivion for a couple of weeks - dropped it because I didn't like the leveling system, but a workmate encouraged me to try it again with mods, so I'm sure I'll be back to it eventually. Besides that, currently in the middle of Max Payne 2, and started the campaigns of the oh-so-addicting Heroes of Might and Magic V. That doesn't even count the Warcraft III I have coming in the mail (no plans to play multiplayer, I just want to do the single-player campaigns), and my potential interest in the Rohan MMO that just announced it's open beta for May 27th. I'm a bit hesitant, mostly because (a) as we all know, asian MMOs are grinding hell and (b) it's a cash shop game. But then again, I have old Fiesta friends that might be playing, and the healer/support race that I've recently grown fond of just happens to be the Elves.... *cough cough* =D >D =0 *_* >.> =3 -_-\m/ [/other assorted emoticons]
Anyway... no more games for tonight, need to catch up on some movies. Have Before Sunrise/Sunset (lent from my VP... I don't think I can get away without at least trying to watch them XD), No Country for Old Men, and Kamikaze Girls (Yoko Kanno <3)... and with that, I'm off!
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Comments: Read 22 or Add Your Own.
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Wednesday, April 23rd, 2008
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| Subject: | Been a while since I've done one, and this one seems fun enough |
| Time: | 10:03 pm. |
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Comment to this post with a subject for a top five you would like to see me list. Can be anything, fandom related, meta-, speculative, real world.
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Comments: Read 9 or Add Your Own.
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| Subject: | randomness (as if you'd expect anything else from moi) |
| Time: | 7:40 am. |
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So I finally broke down and bought new Sennheisers for myself last week. My 110's were a great deal when I got them years ago, but either age or something in my new apt complex seems to be killing the reception. This time, I decided to go with wired, since I'm a bit tired of the whole rotating rechargeable batteries thing anyway. So, I opted for a 555 - although I was cm away from getting the 595, a decision I hope I won't regret. The reviews for the 555 are amazing as well, so it should be fine for me. Now I just have to figure out a receiver/amp to buy so I can connect my computer speakers and both headphones at the same time...
D/led and watched two episodes of Allison and Lillia this weekend - which makes it the first anime series I've had interest in since Death Note. This interested stemmed from two places - first, the fact that it's based on Sigsawa Keiichi novel series (author of Kino no Tabi), and the Miyazakiesque, old-fashioned fantasy world. However, I watched and am fully unimpressed. I seem to remember ![[info]](http://p-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif) feanor saying it was a snooze fest - I wouldn't put it at that level, but certainly nothing I can recommend. I may give it another few episodes to see if it blossoms, but ATM, my expectations have dropped to about nil.
It makes me wonder about my anime fandom in general - how much I used to enjoy it, and how I can't find a single series to entertain me now. Is it because I'm not looking hard enough? Is it because of some decline in quality or substance? Is it because I've changed? Is it because I came to like anime because it was so different and new from Western media, but now after watching it for 12+ years it's just as bland as anything else? Is it because the inner elitist prick in me restrains myself from anything that even has the slightest hint of idea regurgitation, waiting for those once-a-year series (that are still probably idea regurgitations, only of shows that I haven't watched) like Honey and Clover and Mushishi that I can place upon a golden pedestal and preach about as if my very existence depended on me keeping a Grand Canyon's divide between my personification of myself as an anime fan and that of the Narutards and Bleachheads.
... *breathes*
Interesting side note: When I mentioned Mushishi above, Firefox spell check flagged it, and among the recommendations was "Fetishes". WTF at that, eh?
Oh, and I never mentioned that I finally got around to watching Byousoku a couple of weeks ago. How I love you Makoto Shinkai - and how you so in turn take advantage of me by [spoiler]taunting me with such an innocent, beautiful romance, then destroying it as a child does his sand castle.[/spoiler] Still, it was beautiful, brilliant, emotional - everything expected from Shinkai - I just hope next time he won't trample on me so.
About time to head to work, so I'll end on a high note: Orbital Period by Bump of Chicken. Okay, it's already about 4 months old now, but I had a Bump of Chicken filled weekend, and I revisited it and was reminded of how awesome it is. Oh, and I also finally took a good look at the booklet that came with it - absolutely amazing. It's about 60 or so pages and showcases a children's fairytale, written and illustrated by Motoo himself. I'm certainly tempted to try to read it - it'd be good practice for me anyway, practice that I haven't had in a long, long time.
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Comments: Read 14 or Add Your Own.
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| Subject: | Whooo, procrasting before taxes tonight! |
| Time: | 7:37 pm. |
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A bit late with replies to the last entry- sorry about that, they're up now.
Anyway, had some awesome weekend fun doing kayaking in shark infested waters... well, except for the parts where I got 2nd degree burns on my feet from walking barefoot to the beach. Definitely need to be better prepared next time. >.> But yeah, definitely recommend it to anyone - kayaking right next to sharks, turtles, and seals is an experience I won't forget.
And speaking of experiences I won't forget... if anyone wants to find out about how much of a nerd I really, really am... well, if you really think you're prepared, then get a load of this. One of the most hilarious moments of my life. My goodness, we were all such dorks. <3 them all. XD
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Comments: Read 11 or Add Your Own.
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Just got back from Wicked. I went in with pretty high expectations - in fact, I haven't heard a single person saying they've disliked it. And now, I understand why. Although I admit I didn't get exactly what I expected - I mean, I was obviously going to get outstanding music with exemplary vocal performances and an entertaining twist of one of my personal favorite stories. The part I didn't expect was for the themes developed in the story to be so thoughtful and so deep. At nearly every turn of the fantasy tale, you encounter truisms that wonderfully relate to our society and ourselves - and to me, that's something that gracefully separates it from the rest of the pack. 10/10 without a moment's hesitation.
Besides that, some amazing news on the X Japan front. Two World Tour dates have been officially announced - Paris on July 5th, and NYC's Madison Square Garden on September 13th. So yeah.... unless a CA date is announced, you can bet I'll be packing my bags for a trip this September. ;)
( And, just to be random - here, have three Japan pics. )
Edit: Added Ben Hur to the top of my Netflix queue. RIP, Charlton Heston.
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Comments: Read 13 or Add Your Own.
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Saturday, March 29th, 2008
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