BoA Disturbance Review

I was actually going to write this post tomorrow, but after losing our 140ish win streak on Pokemon, I decided to do it now since I can't sleep.

Anyways, BoA's new digital single contains this one track. From what I read, she composed the song and wrote the lyrics. It's a r&b ballad that reminds me of her late 2000s Japanese works (the specific title of the song isn't popping into my head. I guess it's due to the little similarities they share). Anyways, the beat is pleasant to listen to since its not fast. Her vocals are great, though this song doesn't seem to make her shine. It's fine though, for the purposes of this song.

The MV was directed by BoA's brother. It has a similar feel to Only One, drama version. The MV had a nice ambivalence to it and it certainly carried the mood of the piece. I also liked how you can pick an ending, though I cannot say I truly understood the endings...

My hands are cramping so ill end my post with a score.

9/10. It's a great song from BoA that is memorable. Ill be listening to this song for days to come, or whatever te saying is.

P.S: I'm not quite sure why it's called Disturbance. From reading the English translations of the lyrics, it seems like she breaks up with her boyfriend since he's becoming more distant from her. Is this change in relationship the disturbance? I don't know!

moumoon - Pain Killer Album Review

moumoon's 4th studio album, Pain Killer, came out today (well technically yesterday since Japan is ahead of North America by a day [not 24 hours of course]). Let's get started with the review! I have listened to the album at least once. I'll be listening to the songs again while I write my review.

[For those who don't know, I just got into moumoon recently. I think it's a really promising band, consisting of two members. Yuka, the lyricist and singer and Kousuke Masaki, the composer and... from what I see in MVs... the guitarist.]

1) DREAMER DREAMER (PAIN KILLER ver.)
This song came from a single that moumoon released last December. It's a pretty upbeat song with a nice chorus. What's different about this version is that it has an added introduction. Otherwise the song sounds exactly the same as the single's version. I really like Yuka's voice in this song, since it kinda reminds me of her earlier work; strong vocals. It's more cutesy than her earlier works, but that seemed to be moumoon's trend after they signed up with Avex (from what I hear. I'm not a moumoon expert.)

8.5/10

2) Banitasu
A new track for the album. It's quite the contrast from DREAMER DREAMER. I would classify this song as a mid-tempo ballad. The piano accompaniment is pleasant to the ears as we listen to the verses. The chorus intensifies, which creates interests to this song. Overall though, I don't find it to be special as a track. It's one of those tracks that I'll have trouble remembering how the melody line went.

7/10

3) Help Me
Another new track for the album. It has a quick, rock beat to it. The syncopation in the song is quite apparent during the verses as you can hear it go off-beat. It makes the song catchy, but once again, nothing memorable about the song. (Besides Yuka saying "Help me, help me")

6.5/10

4) PAIN
Third new track for the album. It starts off with just the piano and vocals in a soothing ballad introduction. As the song goes on, we get more instrumentation, which I think helps the melody line progress into a somewhat power ballad. The chorus, for the most part, seems to be within an interval of a fifth, which to me, creates a stronger impact that way. It strengthens the concept of this power-like ballad.

8.5/10

5) Hanabi
One of my favorite songs from moumoon. Such a beautiful ballad to the ears. It makes me feel all warm inside! The lead up to the chorus is excellent, relying on a, what I'm going to call, a slow trill (repetition of two notes). Then the chorus hits you with such power that you wouldn't normally expect from such a soft beginning (songs like BoA's Smile Again follows a similar pattern). What else can I say about this song... the instrumentation! Absolutely beautiful with the strings playing in the background and the guitar strumming notes. And the harp! (I believe there's a harp!) I absolutely recommend this song! Oh, and they released this song as the title track of a single last August.

10/10

6) Midori No Michi
A B-list song from DREAMER DREAMER single. A very pleasant ballad to the ears that starts off with what sounds like chords on a guitar and vocals. The melody line is quite memorable and I feel like you can really feel the expressions that Yuka is putting into the song.

8.5/10

7) Utsukushi Hito
A ballad that reminds me of a Beetle's song for some reason. Must be the piano chords. This new song didn't quite please my ears the first time through, but I have to say I'm really enjoying the second listen through right now. Yuka belts quite beautifully and controlled in the chorus. The instrumentation is also well done, which helps with the beat. (Piano chords I say!)

8.5/10

8) Anniversary
A new, very cutesy bubblegum pop song. Yuka pulls out her cute vocals, which is actually pretty good! (She has quite the versatility). I'm not sure what else to say about this song. I would say it won't be something that old fans would be to fond of, since it's quite different to their original style.

7.5/10

9) [Love is Everywhere]
A song that was released in March 2012. It's a rockish ballad? It's catchy, yet it doesn't really please my palate. It'll take time for me to start liking this song.

7/10

10) Never Enough
This new song starts off with guitar and vocals. The repetition in the chorus is a nice effect and helps bring the listener in. It's a pleasant... rock ballad? I would say that Yuka's vocals are quite pleasing to the ear. There's not much of a transition between the soft verses and more powerful chorus, but it's not a huge contrast.

8/10

11) Doko E Mo Ikanai Yo
Another B-list song from DREAMER DREAMER. Doko E Mo Ikanai Yo is a slow, sad sounding ballad. When I hear this song, I think of myself staring outside on a rainy day. It's like one of those songs you'll see in a movie, when the main character tried to achieve something, but failed. And when he realized that he failed, this song would start playing. I really like how Yuka's voice fits with the mood of the song. It really creates a mourning like feeling; a sense of sadness and defeat. Yet, somewhat peaceful at the same time. Weird I know!

10/10

Unfortunately, I don't have access to Flowers (Acoustic version). From my experiences with moumoon's acoustic versions, they're wonderfully done. (The two I heard were Sweet Heart and Good Night). Yuka would take her strong vocals and tone it down for the acoustic versions. I'll just have to wait and hear to see if my hypothesis is correct!


OVERALL ALBUM SCORE: 8.2/10

I got into moumoon about one month ago, so I cannot say much in terms of their style. From what I heard so far, they're quite versatile since you'll hear pieces like rock, all the way to bubblegum pop. What I noticed though, is when they signed with Avex (moumoon was signed under an indie label, which was under Avex if I got my facts right), their style changed to strictly more pop like songs. This album is no exception. It's really generic (not really the word I'm looking for since generic sounds so harsh), but it was well done. Out of the 11 (or 12) songs, 6 were brand new. From my limited knowledge of Avex albums (going off BoA's albums), this seems to be quite typical.

I would recommend this album to any new moumoon fan. I'm not sure if old moumoon fans would enjoy this album, but it wouldn't hurt to give it a try!

CD + Blu-Ray Combo Cover.

There are four versions of this album!

Tomorrow, I'll be covering BoA's new (well not really new anymore) single: Disturbance. I'll discuss my thoughts on the MV and the song itself.

Since school is pretty much the same: cramming in final assignments before practicum starts!

Visited Sir Wilfrid Laurier

I woke up bright and early this morning to go visit my partner teachers at Sir Wilfrid Laurier. I wasn't quite sure which entrance was the main entrance, so I went through the biggest set of doors I could find. It turned out to be a set of side doors, that were facing the same direction as the front doors (the front doors were a lot smaller than the side doors).

Anyways, I got the chance to meet both of my partner teachers today and got some questions answered. I also had the chance to briefly watch one of the classes I'll be teaching. It brings back memories of my very first real practicum, since I'll be teaching Grade 8 again.

After my visit, I went to Uni to go over our 509 presentation for Thursday. I think we pretty much got it in the bag! Right after the meeting, I drove up to Notre Dame for a science lab workshop on making inquiry based labs out of the normal "cook book" labs. I had to say that it was an interesting experience and it did made me realize that I actually did do inquiry typed labs in IB... when I initially thought we did nothing special in IB. And in comparison to what we do in University labs, these labs in IB were definitely more inquiry based. I guess we didn't use the term inquiry, thus for me not knowing the word till I entered the education program (or maybe I just forgotten the term).

After the workshop, it was back to the university for 413 field meeting. Same old as any other field meeting.

And that wraps up my day!

Oh and bleeding canker sore in my mouth... it actually hurts >_<

And I didn't take a picture of Sir Wilfrid Laurier since it was quite chilly this morning.

Cranky Monday

I'm not sure why, but I was feeling extremely cranky this morning. It didn't help my mood when I was driving to school. There were people pulling out of a parking lot that made me brake hard. Probably the worst was turning into ICT... it was a green flashing light, but the guy in front of me decided to stop and let people on yield go in front of him... while holding me and another car back (which we were pretty much blocking traffic).

True, it is my fault for blocking traffic, but I had no idea that the guy would stop to let yielded cars go through... and in my defence, it was a flashing green light, even if it was close to changing to solid green.

Anyways, that was my drive. Soon after, I went to TDFL to go read up on writing a proper APA paper. There was this one girl sitting a couple computers down, and she constantly left her seat to go... do something. Well either way, she would bump into my chair each time she left her spot and every time she came back. I thought it was initially my fault, but when I turned around, I saw that there was a LOT of space for her to move (without bumping into my seat). It's not like she was a big girl either. She was really small. Either way, I moved my chair in all the way till practically my body was pressed up to the desk.

She still managed to bump into my chair on her way out, and back from whatever she was doing...

And each time she did it...

She would bump into me with more and more force. It went from a slight nudge, to actually moving my chair a bit....

>_<


Well enough complaining! I was glad that the class ended early today since my prof had a meeting for field advisors today. After school, I got a lot of chores down! =)

And I can't believe it's already 10:30... Sleep time!

1 of 3 parts needed to fix my wing joint! =)

Lazy Sunday

Nothing out of the ordinary today. There were examinations in karate this morning. After exams, I went to PM Hobbycraft to pick up some epoxy to fix my wing joint.

After coming home, I had lunch and then it was off to finish reading some papers from my own paper on FASD. I then went to Staples to get more floor plans printed and went to Rona to see if I can use some washers for my wing joint. I got some washers, but they're a bit too wide, so I'll probably have to find a pipe somewhere.

And that's pretty much it!

In place of my PG photoshoot. I went and took pictures of my 1/144 HG 00 Seven Swords instead!

I would never have thought that it would happen to me...

I was anticipating today, since it would be the day I would take pictures of my PG Strike Freedom   Gundam for my photo challenge. As my previous 3 gundams, I would take the time to wash my gundam before snapping some shots.

The cleaning part went fine, for it only took about 15 minutes for me to rinse and dry off as much water as I could with a microfiber cloth. When I was trying to put on the left set of wings back onto its backpack,

The joint....

Snapped off...

I guess I used more force than necessary, for the piece just pretty much snapped off when I tried to attach it into the hole.

And now...

I'm left with this:

As you can see, the wing set on the right is missing a peg (while the wing set on the left has its peg).

Fortunately there's a method to fix this, but it's going to take some time to find the parts I need.

Besides that ordeal, my day was pretty ordinary. I went to volunteering, came home and researched for 510, and played LoL since today is double IP day. Unfortunately, the servers must be overloaded since I was only able to get in a couple of games. =/

Pretty short day in school

I tried waking up early, but I failed and ended up waking up at 8. =/

I got some work in, and an episode of Polar Bear Cafe and Gundam X.

Then it was school. We went over how we would assess our final assignment, and the purposes of assessment. That took about an hour or so. Very soon after, we got time to work on our project. Since my group is essentially down (just need supplies to create the kits now), we just worked on whatever other work we had at the moment. I left at around 2:30ish since I couldn't really work at school (and plus I had some things I had to take care of when I got home! Why not leave earlier and get them down =P)

And onto what I look forward to on every Thursday.

Gintama.

This arc just keeps on getting better and better!

I didn't know which pick to use! Both were extremely epic screen shots! I don't believe I've ever seen Gintoki this angry since the Four Diva's arc.

Pet Girl of Sakurasou just melted my heart :'(

Today's episode that I watched (which was aired last week), was so heartwarming. ='(

I didn't expect that scene, though I guess I should have!

Anyways, I finally found out my placement today! It'll be at Sir Wilfrid Laurier. I'm looking forward to it!

And thats all for today..... Tired once again!

GAH!!! I feel so girly all of a sudden (don't mind the stereotype).

I had a fancy title... but I forgot it...

=(

For 510 today, I had my presentation. I've been working with a partner to discuss FASD. We picked this topic for two reasons. One, I find this topic to be particularly interesting since it's actually quite prevalent and hard to diagnose. Two, I wanted to get the presentation out of the way so I can focus on my other projects/work.

The presentation actually went quite well. I kinda felt like I was winging it since I was preoccupied with other tasks during the past couple of days. I hope we did pretty decent on it!

After 510, I had a meeting to discuss our 511 poster. We pretty much tidied up our content and made sure we covered the main points.

Then off to a info session that the Palliser region hosted. I never heard of this school board, but I had to say I really liked what they had to offer. Their induction program for new teachers seemed really neat since it sounded like new teachers are being integrated into their careers through a lot of mentoring and guidance from the board.

Either way, I'm off to sleep! Tired =/

Paradoxical indeed...

Presentation tomorrow, group poster in a couple days, but stuff should be done today, workshop for 509, applications to fill in, documents to be uploaded or photocopied, etc. I feel like there's a million things that I need to get done. Somehow, this stress isn't making me feel really stressed! I'm not sure if that's a good thing, or I simply just gave up, or I have gone completely insane from the "sudden" amount of work that's sitting on my plate... It's like I'm stressed, but not stressed.

Paradoxical indeed...

And I'm certainly confused...

Anyways, I had a pretty productive day. Got quite a bit of work done, such as finalizing my section for the poster, looking for my documents to upload for applytoeducation and adding some more touches to my powerpoint presentation for tomorrow.

Now off to sleep!

Projects are... ONTO GINTAMA!

Projects are starting to pile up, but it's to be expected when the semester is so short. Strangely, I don't feel as stressed as I did last semester with the work. I guess it's because the end seems so near, which is great news in my opinion!

Besides school and a bit of a shopping spree, I watched the second part of the courtesan arc in Gintama. As always with an arc, the episode was top notch. Classic touching scenes, with a bit of trollness (especially near the end of the episode! Gintoki that troll!)

Can't wait for next week's episode! It looks like it's going to pretty epic!

Two Wednesdays Down, Three More to Go!

Another brutal Wednesday, but at least it wasn't all lectures. Nevertheless, it wasn't fun having two four hour classes in one day. My saving grace is that I only have to go through three more of these marathons!

It's strange how practicum would be 6 hrs a day, but I never felt super exhausted! I guess because it's so much more fun! =)

Besides working on my presentation and poster, class was as normal as normal can be. Nothing out of the ordinary happened. After class, I got home and watched an episode of Pet Girl of Sakurasou. The new opening is nice, but I can't say I'm really a fan of the new ending.

And that's it for today!

Animations on PowerPoint

Is a pain in the butt.

I spent about 5 hours on creating a 15 second animation of collisions that take place in billiards. I didn't expect it to take this much time! That was pretty much what I did for 509 today. We had some time to work on our workshops, but the majority of the time was dedicated to the animation.

It was initially cool designing the animation, but it sure takes a long time...

After class today, I went to a CBE info session that talked about the application process. It was pretty much similar info from the career fair, but it served as a good refresher. Since I got all my references, I am ready to start submitting!

Well technically...

The result after hitting the cue ball. To get "extra credit", I had to put in something explosive, so I had the cue ball "explode". Really, I made it flash and then the next slide had a big "BOOM!" across it to show that there was an explosion. I don't think that's what my prof wanted... since it sounded like she wanted the ball to be shown blowing up into many pieces...

Too much work perhaps. I'll have to see how I feel about it tomorrow.

Hellsing Ultimate X

Nothing out of the ordinary happened at school today. I had an interview workshop in the morning, followed by EDUC 510. In 510, we talked about the different types of coding used in Alberta. We also discussed implementation of special need students in a classroom environment.

After school, I went to a couple different places to look for supplies/print stuff out for 509 tomorrow. So far so good.

I didn't get much stuff done when I got home, so I ended up watching Hellsing Ultimate X. It's hard to believe that the series is over. It was extremely gory, but the storyline and fight scenes were quite good. It's time to say good bye to Aulcard, Seras, Integra and the rest of the cast.

If you knew you were going to die... possibly soon... what would you do?

My morning session karate class was quite empty today for some odd reason. My class afterwards though, was quite full since we had three new students (not including one new one last week)!

For my afternoon, I worked on an assignment for 509, a list of websites/programs/resources that science teachers could use. I pretty much went to the Doucette Library and took links from the science resource page to use for my assignment. =P

After finding a good 15 links or so, I went to go watch a movie: Stranger than Fiction. It had a really interesting plot and had me thinking throughout the movie on how it would be like for me if I had an invisible voice narrating my life story. 

If I knew that I was going to die quite soon, I would probably be like the protagonist, Harold Crick, and do things that I always wanted to do. That reminds me... I should make a bucket list...

The philosophical outlook really made me think about my own life, and how I sometimes feel that I'm living day by day, rather than living my life to the fullest extent. True, it can be quite exhausting trying to live to "the fullest extent", but I think it'll give you a sense of satisfaction; the tired sort of satisfaction. Perhaps that's the path to happiness...

Overall, a great plot with good acting! I throughly enjoyed the film and especially amazed at seeing Will Ferrell in a dramatic role. I never ever seen him outside of a comedic role before!

credit: http://cf2.imgobject.com/t/p/original/3YIEaycsAAn5cNpRfv5cvq08SdY.jpg

Usborne Books

Like most Saturdays, I got up and went to volunteer. It was a pretty normal day as PLC's Saturday morning piano player. I did overhear some interesting conversations, but nonetheless, nothing out of the ordinary happened today.

In the afternoon, I was over at a colleague's house for a book fair/party. She was selling books that are educational in nature. I had to say that these books were quite high quality and had a wide variety that should touch on student's interests. Also, the prices for the books are quite reasonable. Definitely a better deal than some of the textbooks I had to buy recently... (you know which one I'm referring too!) After looking at a wide collection of books, I ordered a science picture dictionary that covered the three main sciences taught in schools. I can't wait to receive my copy! =)

Also, today marks the second week of my Gundam challenge. This week features my 1/100 MG Infinite Justice.

I'm currently working on my logo, so I just "copyright" my images for now.

After 8 long weeks, Gintama is back with a new episode!

Finally! It's been a bit annoying with the reruns in my opinion. I preferred that they took a longer break to give us new episodes! True, they added some new changes to the old episodes, but I can watch these episodes on my own free time!! =P I have to say I enjoyed the new opening. It has a subtle, calming mood.

The new episode today is the start of a new arc. No spoilers, but it looks pretty interesting!

I went to school early today to get my resume and cover letter looked over by the career specialist in Education. After a couple of changes, I think I should be ready to submit applications!

After working on some edits, I had EDUC 509. After a guest lecture, we had time to work on our projects. So far, our group has managed to come up with something that is interesting and hopefully engaging for students! So far so good!

Somehow, it seems like Wednesdays are always long...

I was slated to have two four hour classes today. Fortunately for me, my first class, EDUC 510, was only an hour and a half since my instructor was just hired last week, thus Blackboard isn't up for this class. In other words, we couldn't really do much. What we did do though, was quite informative. We went through a large list of acronyms that can be seen in an inclusive/special ed classroom setting. I believe there were 90 acronyms on the list!

After class, I bought the textbook that was needed for 510. Fortunately, it's a lot cheaper than 511 coming in at about $60. I read through a couple of the cases in the book and they were quite enjoyable, relevant readings. Throughout the next 4.5 hours I had before my next class, I hid away in TDFL to read and look up information for 509.

At around 1:45, I trudged down towards my next four hour class: EDUC 511.

Wow...

That's all I have to say about that course so far. It felt extremely long in that class. Good thing next week that it'll be a work period to work on our posters.

Apparently, a study showed that children viewed teachers as being the most....

What an eventful day! I started my first day of class by showing up late. =/

The instructor for 509 seemed passionate about science and had a variety of resources for us to use. We started off discussing on how we could potentially describe a scientific concept... which I found quite difficult to do. I was trying to explain diffusion in 25 words. I know what it is, but putting it into 25 words was tricky!

After doing a couple more activities, we broke down into groups to start work on our third assignment (which is worth 75% of our final mark!). Our assignment was to come up with a science workshop for clients, and these are real clients. My group has to design a workshop that surrounds electricity and electronics for secondary science classrooms. Our client: Minds in Motions.

After 4 hours (classes are this long so they can cram in a course in 5 weeks), I went to the bookstore to purchase a textbook for one of my classes. For a softcover book, $156.24 is extremely expensive. =/ It's an okay read so far, though I stopped the second chapter we had to read (Chapter 12) early, since I was getting bored of the material.

So onto the explanation of my title!

Apparently, a study showed that children viewed teachers as being the most TRUSTWORTHY, or placing the most trust in them. I found this statement quite interesting when my 509 instructor told us this today. From my own experiences, I guess it's true, for I never really doubted the information my teacher gave to me when I was going through the school system.

After teachers is doctors. I think scientists were third... Apparently people placed the least amount of trust in lawyers. (The study, was done by a lawyer... if I remembered correctly).

Last Winter break of my undergrad!

After four weeks or so, my winter break is coming to an end. It has been relaxing, though slightly boring. =P

And to end my winter break, what better way than to play some Smash Brothers?

credits: http://guidesmedia.ign.com/guides/image/article/850/850840/ssbb_guide_1205273867_1211179395.jpg

First day of classes tomorrow. It's going to be an interesting month. Four courses in 5 weeks. It feels almost like a block week, except it's a month long... so block month? Oh well, at least we finish in 5 weeks! And then two months of practicum. And then...

the "real world".

Which reminds me that I should start sending in my applications and get the required documents I need (TQS, Interm Certificate (I think that's what its called), etc).

Didn't expect it to be that simple...

First day of karate in 2013. Like any other year, now's the time that we really focus on getting students ready for exams. I got two more classes to get them ready!

As for the title, I'm referring to the final boss in Ocarina of Time. Ganon, beast form, seemed quite difficult to beat at first. I initially fought him by shooting light arrows into his face to stun him. Once stunned, I would run behind him and jump slash his tail with the biggoron sword. The first part was relatively easy, but the second part seemed... impossibly long! I repeated my strategy (after refilling my magic with green pots or using my blue potion), but it was taking WAYYY too long. I must have jumped slash him about 16 times, but he keeps standing back up! After losing concentration, I died, and having no fairy on me, meant it was a game over. After repeating this twice (with, of course, two failures), I got fed up with Zelda and decided to take a break.

After my brother got home, I asked him his strategy in beating Ganon.

He told me, that instead of using up magic for light arrows, I could roll between his legs and strike him that way. Also, when I got to the second part, I should use the Master Sword (which you retrieve after whacking him hard enough in the first section) instead of my super powerful Biggoron.

Long story short, I tried what my brother suggested...

And kicked Ganon's butt in a quarter of the time I was spending on my first two trials...

It made the battle difficult from a 10 to like a 3...

I only got hit once because I rolled into his leg, instead of between his legs (which is quite easy despite my initial skepticism).

I felt like face palming myself for not being able to figure it out. But I can finally say that I finished a classic! I was extremely irritated when I was unable to defeat the final boss, but I can now say that I am extremely glad that I was. =)

Cleaning Saturday

I went back to volunteering after what seems like an eternity (only a month). It went quite well today since my finger held up. I got to meet one of the other program supervisors/managers/operators/etc for volunteering head honchos (or my "boss" at least) today since she normally doesn't work on the weekends.

After volunteering, I had a decent sized lunch to help me with the task I had in hand: cleaning up my house of my old magazines. It's been years since I've sorted through my Nintendo Power, Maclean and National Geographic magazines. I was contemplating whether to keep the magazines or not (especially my Nintendo ones) since they have somewhat of a sentimental value for me. Nintendo Power was my very first subscription that I paid with my own cash! I decided to recycle them instead of keeping them for scrapbooking/art projects at school/etc since I couldn't imagine people ripping through these magazines to find what they need for their said project. I felt it was best for them to be recycled and for them to know that they're doing their part to help save our environment. (Weird twisted logic I know)

After cleaning up my old magazines, I went on to clean up the dust from my Gundam collection. My MG Impulse must have about a layer of dust that is literally a millimeter thick! After a wash, I took pictures of Impulse which struck me with a fine idea for my photo challenge. I'm going to start taking pictures of my and my brother's collection of gundams. That should keep me occupied with a photo challenge for almost half a year!! Good way to start off the New Year! =)

Anime Day

I watched four episodes from four different anime series today! It's the first time I did something like this that I can remember! I don't think I ever accomplished such a feat as a child. First off, I watched an episode of Polar Bear Cafe. It's a hilarious comedy show that focuses around animals like a panda, polar bear, penguin, grizzly bear, llama, koala, sloth, tortoise, mandrill, and a whole bunch more. There's also humans in the show and they all seem to be able to talk to one another. Nevertheless, it's a great show that I watch as I eat breakfast each morning!

Next up, I watched an episode of The Pet Girl of Sakurasou. It was such a good episode (episode 12, since I have a free membership on crunchyroll... i'm an episode behind the premium people) due to the cliché, but heartwarming ending!

After that was Magi. It has a middle-eastern like setting about genies, magic and kingdoms. Not as good as the previous episodes but watchable enough!

Finally, one episode of After Wars Gundam X. So far so good! I'll probably talk more about the show once I'm done.

Here's my favorite picture from yesterday's shoot.

I love the bokeh in this shot! There's some glare on the rails, but the bokeh makes up for it in my opinion! =)

New Year's Day = Great day to take pictures!!

Despite the title, there will once again be no photos for my blogpost today.

I started the day, actually quite early. I woke up at around 9:30 (when I've been waking up at around 11 the past couple of days) and ate a quick breakfast. Afterwards, I continued working on my cover letter/resumes. I'm almost ready to get them edited and submitted! =)

The rest of my day was pretty normal. I spent time watching my drama, Kagi no Kakatta Heya (Locked Door Mysteries) and anime. I've started After Wars Gundam X yesterday, and I have to say that I've been enjoying the show so far!

At around 9 PM tonight, I went out with a friend to go take pictures of the night sky. At first, I suggested a hill close by, but there was too much light pollution. I thought it would be a good spot since it's so dar on the hill, but I guess there's the city lights to contend with =/

Afterwards, we went to Skyview to look for a place to take pictures. We stopped at a road where there were two fields. One field was extremely dark while the other field was quite dark. We wanted to go to the extremely dark field, but the sound of coyotes in the air deterred us from venturing to, quite possibly, early deaths *gulp*.

That left us with the quite dark field, which wasn't that great at all. Sure, it was better than the hill on the field, but there's trails of light pollution on the side of the shot. I'll just have to see what I can do with photoshop, or if there's anything I can do at all! Did I mention that it was quite windy on the field as well? I was wearing two gloves on each hand, but it was still quite cold!

Oh and the moon was so beautiful! In hindsight, I should have brought my dad's 500mm mirror lens. =(

After coming back to our home area, we ventured near Sunridge to take pictures of the giant Christmas tree that they haven't taken down yet. I hope I managed to take some decent pictures!

That's all for today!