BLOG -- Recap of March

So let's just say I played Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn all March and be done with this blog. Haha. I'm just kidding. Despite my now sporadic blog entries, I did do a few things this month, and had a good number of exposures.

Outings/Events in March:

- Attended a very long wedding reception (4.5 hours long -- I timed it). I didn't want to go, since I barely knew anybody... ><''

- Stayed over at my sister's place x2.

- Attended the Spring One of Kind Show.

- Hung out with my sister and friends x1.

- Had Lunch with a good co-worker buddy.

- Had Lunch to celebrate a team-mate's birthday.
 

Exposures:

- (restaurant) Vera's Kitchen -- Yummy food.

- (restaurant) Very Fair Seafood Restaurant -- Meh.

- (restaurant) Pho Hung -- I'd like to go back and try other dishes.

- (person) Madilyn Bailey -- One day I was Youtubing "Titanium David Guetta" and her cover was near the top, so I thought, Okay, let's try it out. I was totally blown away. She has a really lovely voice!

- (person) David Choi -- My sister told me about him. I never noticed, but he was in one of Ryan Higa's old Youtube videos. Anywho, he's got a really nice voice and sings his own songs. Brings the sappy romantic out of me, hahaha (I'm exaggerating a little here... the sappy romantic side of me is always out and active ;))

Finished...

Watching:

- (Anime): Polyphonica Crimson S -- Despite the suggestive DVD cover, this series doesn't have any fanservice (that I can remember) and is quite enjoyable. I wish there was a video game based on this world -- I want to play it!

- (Anime): Boys Be -- There were some interesting thoughts, but it didn't do that much for me. I also really don't like the eyecatches.

Playing:

- Nothing this month.

Reading:

- Nothing this month.

Currently... 

Playing (not all at once):

- (PS4): Resogun 
- (PS3): Borderlands 2 
- (PS3): Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn  
- (DS): Legacy of Ys: Book I & II 
- (3DS): Mario's Picross
- (3DS): Bravely Default
- (GBA): The Legend of Zelda: Four Swords Anniversary Edition
- (PSP): Persona 
- (PSP): Crush
- (Wii): Fortune Street 
- (PS2): Atelier Iris 2
- (PC): UnEpic  
- (PC): King's Bounty: The Legend

Watching:

- (TV Show): The Walking Dead (Season 3) 
- (Anime): Yu Yu Hakusho (don't remember)
- (Anime): Shakugan no Shana (Season 1 -- Episode 19)
- (Anime): K-On! (Episode 1) 

Reading:

- (Manga): Judge by Yoshiki Tonogai 
- (Manga): Midnight Secretary by Tomu Ohmi (Volume 4)


That's it for March. Here are some random photos, plus a bunch of Youtube videos I was exposed to this month:

A neat-looking table at the One of a Kind Show.

Some delicious cookies that we bought at the One of a Kind Show.

A very pretty collection of Tales of Symphonia.

"That Girl" by David Choi.

It's such a sweet song.

Madilyn Bailey's cover of One Direction's "What Makes You Beautiful".

It makes me want to dance! :)

A cover of Taylor Swift's "I Knew You Were Trouble" by Walk off the Earth feat. KRNFX.

It sounds cool!

"Marry Me" by Ellegarden. It's a catchy tune.

Thanks for reading! As always, feel free to comment or ask about any of my experiences / exposures. Don't fall for too many April Fool's jokes tomorrow! I was already fooled by one today (nooo, I wanted to woo Thancred or Silvarre!!) T.T.

Anywho, take care! :)

BLOG -- My Day Without Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn; Spouting About Daigasso! Band Brothers

Since Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn is down for maintenance for the whole day today, I'm going to take this chance to blog. And what better thing to blog about than this very day... as I suffer from Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn withdrawals. Hahaha, well, I'm just joking... a little.

Anywho, the game is down for the whole day so that Patch 2.2 can be implemented. New quests, new features, more crafting, more fishing -- added gardening (kyaa!)... it's really exciting stuff. 

So what did I do today? Well... (my apologies if this read is not too interesting to you)

6:30 AM: I woke up (bleh...)

6:30 AM - 7:15 AM: Did my washroom stuff (brush teeth, take a shower while singing)

7:15 AM - 7:30 AM: Prepared my lunch and breakfast.

7:30 AM - 8:10 AM: Normally, I would log onto Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn and do a bit of crafting and gathering, but today I checked Siliconera for any gaming news and then I checked my e-mail. I got an e-mail from a close friend asking for song suggestions to download for this really cool Japanese DS rhythm game called Daigasso! Band Brothers DX. If you have never heard of Daigasso! Band Brothers DX, here's a sample playthrough (it only shows the top screen of the DS, and you can only pick one instrument to play through at a time):

 Sample playthrough of Impossible's version of Chrono Trigger's "To Far Away Times"

About two weeks ago, I alerted this same friend that Nintendo was shutting down its Wi-Fi servers for the Wii and DS on May 20. See, one of the really cool things about Daigasso! Band Brothers DX is its song editor that allows you to create midi songs of pre-existing songs (as you may have seen in the video above) and upload them to Nintendo's servers for other players to download (a player can download up to 100 different songs). I remember that when this game came out, there were over 1000 available songs a month after its release. And to download them, you need to connect to Wi-Fi (bleh).

I checked my old folders and luckily I found a really old Excel file (it's 5 years old!) that listed almost all the songs I downloaded back then (yay for me and my list-making tendencies!!). I wanted to double-check the list before sending it off to her so I responded, telling her that I would send her the list tonight.

8:10 - 9:10 AM: My commute to work. I ate a mild patty on the way since I only had soy milk for breakfast (I forgot to buy cereal for this morning. And yes, I was late to work... *ack*)

9:10 AM - 6:00 PM: Work. At least I made up for my tardiness... by working for an extra 50 minutes.

6:00 PM - 6:15 PM: Bought some cereal (not gonna forget again...).

6:15 PM - 7:15 PM: My commute back home. I played some Bravely Default.

7:15 PM - 9:15 PM: I looked through my old download list for Daigasso! Band Brothers DX while eating dinner. That was really fun and nostalgic. I actually have two copies of Daigasso! Band Brothers DX so I was listening to nearly 200 song snippets. I ended up playing some of them and realizing just how rusty I had become. 

You wanna know why I really like the Daigasso! Band Brothers DX (and the series overall)? You're probably not interested in knowing... but I'm gonna tell you anyway. There are several reasons:

1. I get to practice my Japanese. Since the game is in Japanese, all the song names (unless they were originally in English) are Japanese and are written using the two alphabet sets that I've taught myself (katakana and hiragana). Sometimes I still get some characters mixed up, but it was definitely a good chance to get better at it.

2. Only one person needed to own the game for others to play (up to 8 people!). That is just awesome.

3. This is the biggest reason why I really like Daigasso! Band Brothers DX (and the series overall): it was what I considered a very large hub for various music exposures. Because I often have the attitude of "being open" to various genres (for any kind of media -- music, video games, movies, etc.), I let myself get exposed to a ton of new songs and artists. If I didn't recognize the song title, I would try Youtubbing it. It was because of my attitude that I found a Korean Pop song that I now really really like ("Love Love Love" by Epik High). 

It was also through a Daigasso! Band Brothers game that I found one of my most favourite Japanese Rock / Pop bands (I will blog about it in due time). Other artists that I found through Daigasso! Band Brothers were Greeeen, Spitz, Aqua Timez, Arashi, The Back Horn, and Kobukuro.

Here are some Youtube videos of just some of the cool tunes I found through Daigasso! Band Brothers (you may not like them, but to each their own). Most of these songs are in Japanese, BUT there are also a couple that are in English.

 

"前進 僕 戦場へ" by Lunkhead.

I love the opening guitar.

"Bored of Everything" by Ellegarden.

I want to find a karaoke track of this. I want to sing it!

This song is entirely in English.

"Robinson" by Spitz.

It sounds so melancholic. I love it.

"Be Free" by Greeeen.

It was this music video that led me to a Japanese movie that I like:

Negative Happy Chainsaw Edge

"Discography" by Straightener. This song is entirely in English. If you ever catch the original music video, it is weiiird -- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G3zlxtsFlcE

"Merry Christmas Mr. Lawrence" by Ryuichi Sakamoto, Everton Nelson, and Jacques.

This is an instrumental piece and it is so beautiful...

And last but not least...

"とくそうせんたいデカレンジャー" (Dekaranger Opening theme).

Listening to this just gets my blood pumping! So intense and exciting!

9:15 PM - 9:40 PM: Watched an episode of Boys Be while finishing up my dinner.

9:40 PM - 12:10-ish PM: I am blogging this blog!


What am I going to do after this? Go to sleep. Hahaha... This is the first in weeks that I have a chance to sleep at a more reasonable time (instead of staying up to 1-1:30 AM, playing Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn...).


If you've read this far in the blog -- thank you!!

You all have a good week and see you all again (hopefully in a more timely manner).

Matane! (See you later!) :)

BLOG -- Some of My Thoughts on Time and Time Travelling

Okay, so Final Fantasy XIV still has a ridiculously tight grip on me. I mean, I completely missed blogging last week -- I was busy crafting, gathering, and leveling up my character. I am also at the point where my inventory is filled with items (my character's inventory + my 2 retainers' inventories) and every now and then I find myself playing the "Manage my inventory" game. I probably wouldn't have this issue if I was focusing on one class at a time, but I don't want to play that way, haha. I want my various classes to support each other. If my fighting class needs new gear, I want my crafting classes to make some. And if my crafting classes need the materials, I want my gathering classes to get most, if not all, of them. But I'm already getting sidetracked here.

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In light of the Daylight Savings that happened yesterday, I'm going to share some of my thoughts on Time and Time Travelling.

I have to first put this disclaimer: I do not know much about science. These are thoughts that I've pondered and developed over the years. And due to that development, this is the perspective that makes the most sense to me. Do NOT take any of these as fact -- again, it is my perspective. Also, please excuse my term of "man-made" and "Man". When I use it here, I am referring to humans as a whole.


So... Time. Besides it being what I consider to be one of the most expensive gifts anybody can ever give to somebody else, I think Time is a man-made concept that controls our world.

Yes, Time exists, but "Time" is just an arbitrary term to a state of being (humans just had to put a label on it). Time isn't an entity; it has no thoughts; it has no feelings; it is not even made up of molecules. If the world blew up and nobody was alive to witness it, Time would still be present and moving. To me, Time is simply "progression".

My thought about Time being a man-made concept comes from our measurements of it -- a year, a month, a day, an hour, a minute, a second, a nanosecond, a millisecond. It is to this measurement of Time that I think many of us (I would dare to say all) are slaves. You have a report due in a week? In two days? In an hour? Or you have to get to this shop before it closes for the day. Or you have to catch a show that starts in 2 minutes. Whether we want to or not, I think we have all ended up prioritizing our actions around Man's measurement of Time at one point or another. 

Now, I'm not exactly against this measurement of Time -- it's useful when you want to meet up with your friends, or when you want to hype up a product's launch date or whatever. I just find it a little funny and sad sometimes that we stress and worry over it (like a report's deadline, a bill to pay, whatever). It's just the thought that Man stresses over something Man created. It's... amusing.

So... with that out of the way, here are my thoughts on Time Travelling. 

Just so you know, I would love to be able to time travel. I would totally go back in time and adjust some of my errors. Not all of them, but definitely the ones that still affect me today (not going into details here, but it's nothing bad -- just bad for me). BUT... with my opinion of Time and how the measurement of Time is man-made, I think that travelling back in time is impossible.

Let's try to it break down a little:

You want to travel back to... umm... 1994. You build this crazy contraption, and then when you start to define the days, the years, the minutes, etc., you pause. Just how are you defining this?? Sure, you can define the length of a minute, the length of a year... but then what? How would this contraption that you just built know exactly what happened years ago? Time is not an entity -- it doesn't have memories. Time is a state of being that progresses nonstop. It's... just impossible.

Sorry if I burst anybody's bubble here. I so want to believe in the possibility of travelling back in time. But I just can't.

In that same regard, I think that time travelling to the future is also impossible. Again, it goes back to what time travelling involves. Time travelling is the manipulation of the progression of Time. BUT... the progression of Time is man-made (a day, an hour, etc.). Manipulating that progression means nothing to Time. Because, again, how would that be defined? I guess a machine could determine how a world's state could be in the future, given specific constants and such, but to place somebody there? Impossible.

Still... I do believe in something Time-related. I wouldn't really call it time travelling though some people might. So I don't believe in the possibility of Man creating a contraption to manipulate the progression of Time in any way. What I do believe in, however, is the possibility of areas or forces that alter the progression of Time in a natural way -- something where Man doesn't have to interfere. Maybe a specific spot on Earth has a slower state of progression than another spot -- or even out in space (which is more probable). I don't know if such areas or forces exist, but I'd like to believe in it. Even with this line of thinking, though, that would still alter the present progression -- altering the past is still impossible.

You know what can travel back in time, though? Video games (and other man-made programs). ;)


That's it for this blog!

If you disagree with my thoughts or anything, go ahead and comment or send me a message. If I am completely off the mark in terms of science, feel free to let me know, too. Sometime after this blog, one of my friends is going to beat some knowledge into me by having me read a book by Stephen Hawking. I can't say for sure if I will understand it, though. If it changes my thoughts about Time, who knows -- maybe I'll revisit this topic again.

Thanks for reading. Have a great week! Now back to playing Final Fantasy XIV... after a bit of Call of Duty: Ghosts... :)