Distant Worlds Calgary - It finally arrived!

This must be my longest hiatus yet. My schedule has been packed with work and just pure laziness on my part to blog.

The last gaming music concert I attended was Zelda Symphony of the Goddess, back in November 2012. I made a review of my experiences, and in the final line I stated "I hope that they'll bring a Final fantasy concert to Calgary soon! =) "

Lo and behold, my wishes were granted when I found out about Distant Worlds coming to Calgary back in December 2016. In short, I booked them ASAP and as close to the front as I could (Row B). In comparison to the seats we had last time (Row E), it would be nice to be a bit further back. My neck wasn't strained from looking up at the monitor, but I somehow found the seats better slightly back.

Anyways, yesterday, May 21st, was the day of reckoning. I planned to arrive extra early (an hour early) so that I can grab prime parking to leave the lot. Like Zelda, there were fans of all ages. What was sweet were seeing elderly couples enjoying the music together. I'm not sure whether they are Final Fantasy fans directly (granted that it is the 30th anniversary of FF... so a 60-70 year old person would be just about my age now...), or through their children, but it was a welcoming site. 

And onto the concert itself!

While I found my seat, I was thinking about how prepared I was for that particular day. I spent the past couple of months listening to a bunch of different Distant Worlds concerts and Distant Worlds CDs on YouTube. Unlike Zelda, Final Fantasy has many times more music to pick from the 15 main games (not counting sequels or spinoffs). For the most part though, I had an idea of what to expect.

In retrospect, it wasn't the brightest idea, especially listening to CDs. Overall, I felt like Distant Worlds Calgary wasn't as well balanced in terms of its instrumentation. It was as though the melody line was buried by the accompany. It also doesn't help that being so tuned to the music made it easier for me to pick out mistakes that were made throughout the night. (Granted, the Distant Worlds Philharmonic just finished playing in Edmonton the night before and that it's a touring orchestra, mistakes are more probable than a local orchestra.) 

The night started with the prelude. Unfortunately, the harpist either missed a few bars, or just played the incorrect chord by accident. It placed a bit of a damper on my spirits. Certain musicians looked at the harpist and I felt as if the conductor would stop and restart from the beginning. Though, professionals they are, for the harpist quickly found her spot and carried on. The entire orchestra came in and it initially sounded like music from the heavens. 

Strangely enough, or maybe its because I'm growing older..., I have troubles remembering the track list. For the most part, I thought they did a good job of playing music that most people would like: FF IV's Theme of Love, FF X - To Zanarkand, Chocobo Medley, and FF VII - One Wing Angel. FF VII's Cosmo Canyon was pleasant, along with FF IX's Roses of May. FF IX, being my favorite Final Fantasy to date though not nearly as popular as FF VII had a couple of songs (Roses of May and Not Alone). The chocobo medley was nice and the video that played along it was spot on. 

To my dismay, I wished there were more music from FF XV. I guess since the game is relatively new, that they didn't have time to prepare scores for songs like Somnus, and Luna's Theme. Also, there weren't any soloists singing ending themes like FF IX's Melodies of Life or FF VIII's - Eyes on Me. I was also surprised that Aerith's theme was not present as well.

Overall, it was an amazing experience to witness FF music live in Calgary. There wasn't quite the same magic as Zelda, since I had a pretty good idea of what to expect for the night, yet to be surrounded by music from, what I believe, to be the best gaming music in the world is quite the experience I'll probably never forget. I only hope that the next time they come back to Calgary, they'll be a few soloists and the legendary Uematsu Nobuo himself.

Taken by my brother's phone since my phone refuses to take pictures nowadays. =(

I always knew her eyes were intense!

Slippery drive back home today, with my rear end kicking out from time to time. Other than the longer than usual drive home (and to work), it was a typical day.

I finished lesson planning for the week, which allowed me to start Doctor X Season 4 today! It all started back in 2012 (thus not being in my initial Top 5 Medical Drama post), and it has always been an exciting ride. True, the story line can become predictable, but it's always nice to see how Daimon Michiko performs her awe-inspiring surgeries.

Back on April 28th 2013, I stated how she had intense eyes:

http://davidmaruyama.blogspot.ca/2013/04/busy-weekend.html

Funny enough, they mentioned it in the first episode today!

First Day with Students

It was definitely hectic. I'm not sure whether students are glad to see one another, or it's a short week, but a lot of them were off the wall today! Granted, I learned to not prepare notes for the first day back of a short week Fortunately for me, I had mostly a review day today.

After work, off to the gym once more! I switched up how I deadlifted today, and it seemed to help. 325 lbs was a lot more doable than my last session two weeks ago. It hasn't gone up as much as my squat, but I've expected as much since I'm focusing on my squats at the moment.

All in due time.

First Day of Work 2017

Most original titles ever! I can't recall the last time I posted four days in a row...

It was difficult to get up at 5:30, though not as difficult as years past. Despite getting up early, I showed up to work at around 7:50.

Work today was all PD sessions. The ones I attended include brain based learning, Google Classroom, and cleaning up your Google Drive. As for my last session, I taught a basic karate/self-defense class. Pretty common sense, but teaching adults is a lot different than teaching children!

Besides work, it was off to the gym for back day. I've changed my schedule, so that it includes two squat days, one back day, one deadlift day and one chest day. My current goal is to increase the amount I squat, as I currently bulk up. I went up around 20 pounds (sitting at around 192 lbs), with a current PR of a single (and shaky) 300 lbs squat. Bulking does wonders, but my pants are getting tight!

I'm looking forward to cutting again once I manage to hit 315 lbs cleanly! As for now, focus for the rest of the week.

Two day week with students coming back from break... it should be interesting...

Last Day of Winter Break 2016-2017

It's like my body is ready to go back to work.

Well almost ready...

I got up at 7, which is about 3 hours earlier than normal. However, I laid in bed to finish watching Alderamin of the Sky, a military based anime which is pretty good in my books. Some parts of the show was unexpected, and there were definitely some flaws, but overall it was an excellent watch.

After getting out of bed at like... 9:30, I proceeded to enjoy the last day of break by trying to fix my camera on my iPhone 5s. That thing has been whacked since a couple months back, when all it showed was a black screen. According to some research, and some experimentation, it was most likely a software issue than a hardware issue. After resetting my phone a couple times in the past, the problem seemingly went away for a couple days, only to return again.

Without having much luck with resetting as of late, I decided to do a full factory reset.

It didn't work.

But at least my phone has a lot of free space again!

Unfortunately though, I did not have enough common sense to reupload my music, so making my workout today (squat day) a bit lackluster.

I hope FF XIV won't be the end of me...

I had troubles sleeping last night, due to the fact that I woke up relatively late on New Year's.

Either way, I woke up groggy, hoping to reset my sleep pattern since work starts in a couple of days! It was extremely chilly today, so I spent most of the day at home, besides going out to eat dinner.

I finished inputting all my marks into Gradekeeper (a program we use at my school to keep track of student's grades), and proceeded to play FF XIV. My goal was to finish FF XV (on the PS4) this winter break, but I'm only on the start of chapter 3... out of 14 chapters if I'm not mistaken.

Saddened by the fact that I'm unable to achieve my goal, I've been playing FF XIV solely for the last two days.

I will get in FF XV tomorrow. Life goals.

#sadgoals

New Years 2017

And so another years has come and gone. 2016... a year that blew by extremely quickly in my books; though it can be said that every year after university feels like they blow by quickly. Nevertheless, looking back, it feels like I managed some accomplishments!

2016 was a year where I made, what I consider, to be my first major purchase, in terms of a car. It's a vivid memory, in which I doubt I'll ever forget. Other than that, I was extremely fortunate to secure a permanent position at my school. That's definitely a sigh of relief, considering how tough the economy is right now. Besides those two, I also started to learn how to cook, thanks to the help of a couple of friends. Now I won't starve or die from eating just instant noodles! =P

Simply put, 2016 is a year of maturity. Almost in my 30s, which is a scary thought...

As for my blog, I'll try and be more active. I might bring back more reviews/thoughts/whatever interests me at the moment besides it being a daily log book.

But as for today, a log book it will be -- so FF XIV mostly and watching Kimi no na wa (Your Name). FF XIV is a game I picked up last week, and it gives me something else to do besides FF XV. Going off tangent, last year was a PG Unicorn Winter Break, while this winter break is more of a Final Fantasy break.

But back on track: Kimi no na wa. This anime movie was listed as number 1 on myanimelist.com with a public rating of 9.37/10, scored by 90,532 users. Obviously, I had to go see it for myself. Without spoiling anything, it's a romantic based drama that transcends time, hence a bit of time travelling involved. A pretty simple story, with some character development. The beginning grabbed my attention, but the ending was a little bit plain for my tastes. I give props to the author/script writer though, for time travelling shows are quite difficult to make well. The graphics were well done, and there was an emotional impact to the story... for the most part.

Credits: https://entertainment.inquirer.net/files/2016/12/Kimi-no-Na-wa.jpeg