Woooooot!!! After a long hiatus of 9 months, the second season of Code Geass is finally here, with the first episode scheduled for release in Japan on 6 April 2008!
So we get to see more Lelouch, Suzaku and CC, with a couple of new characters in the classic CLAMP style that is gory yet visually pleasing with lots of drama to boot. Mecha was never this good. One more anime to watch and add to the current trinity of Naruto Shippuden, Bleach and D Gray Man. ^^
Now to see which fansub group's going to take it on.... I want my Code Geasssssss 2!!! ^^
I've always loved this song: the vivid mental imagery it invokes of a forlorn diva standing atop a hill, arms spread to welcome the howling wind, singing this dirge as the forests that surround the lone bastion, as far as the eye can see, are consumed by the ever encroaching flames; the lyrics hauntingly beautiful yet pregnant with meaning.
It remains as real as it did when I first heard it 14 years ago, bleary eyed and half asleep on the school bus, the powerful, emotive voice of Annie Lennox floating over a vanful of sleepy boys. Perhaps even more so now that one has loved and the song evokes what one truly feels deep inside.
The video while almost theatrical (never mind the drag ballet dancers), captures and brings out the essence of the song perfectly, the inability to profess love and love as emotions, language and eventually sanity dissipates, leaving the slow, dark descent into mental oblivion.
I used to be lunatic from the gracious days I used to be woebegone and so restless nights My aching heart would bleed for you to see Oh but now... (I don't find myself bouncing home Whistling my conscience to make me cry)
No more "I love you's" The language is leaving me No more "I love you's" Changes are shifting outside the word
(The lover speaks about the monsters)
I used to have demons in my room at night Desire,despair,desire,so many monsters Oh but now... (I don't find myself bouncing home Whistling my conscience to make me cry)
No more "I love you's" The language is leaving me No more "I love you's" The language is leaving me in silence No more "I love you's" Changes are shifting outside the word
They were being really crazy They were on the come. And you know what mammy? Everybody was being really crazy. Uh huh. The monsters are crazy. There are monsters outside.
No more "I love you's" The language is leaving me No more "I love you's" The language is leaving me in silence No more "I love you's" Changes are shifting outside the word
Outside the word
No more "I love you's" The language is leaving me No more "I love you's" The language is leaving me No more "I love you's" Changes are shifting outside the word
Work really never stops coming in. It's at the stage where I'm at one meeting and get called to attend a second ongoing meeting asap, rush to do so and forget about the client coming to affirm the affidavit in 10 mins. So, swamped but still bearable.
It was a pleasant surprise though, when the head called the liti pupils in prior to one of the aforementioned meetings and informed us after a 15 min inspirational talk that we had been retained. Which was a pleasant surprise since tradition dictated that we were usually one of the last firms (and departments) to confirm the retention of their pupils.
Even nicer was the very pleasant surprise that the starting pay would be pegged at the prevailing market rate (too decent, the head called it), a full $500 more than we'd expected (albeit resigned) to get. Then the clients came and off I went with the head for the frenzied round of meetings.
So today's news while unexpected was pleasant for obvious reasons. It's always nice to be reassured of your position within the company and to be able to look ahead without trepidation.
In a sense, this lap is almost over and the next one looms nigh, presenting new challenges, worries and issues. And one enters with that instinctive tentative hesitation for fear of the unknown, yet I think I'll be looking forward to it for precisely the same reasons.
There's much to be thankful for, good working environment, nice colleagues and superiors who don't snap at you when you screw up. After all, one hears of all the horror stories of various law firms where some partner screams and yells at the legal associate then sends the file flying out of the room. Just like being in primary two all over again.
I don't know about you. But I don't think any fat pay check or 1 year bonus is enough to compensate for the lack of basic civility due to any mature person. So yep, happy with what I have.
On an unrelated note, I love this song. Partly cause it's now stuck in my head thanks to DDR. Hoo but this my friends makes one of the perfect breakup you suck-I don't care about your lame excuses-goodbye songs.
Too Little Too Late - JoJo
Come with me, Stay the night, Just say the words but boy it don't feel right, What do you expect me to say (you know it's just too little too late), You take my hand, And you say you've changed, But boy you know your beggin' don't fool me, Because to you it's just a game (you know it's just too little too late).
So let me on down, 'Cause time has made me strong, I'm startin' to move on, I'm gonna say this now, Your chance has come and gone, And you know.
It's just too little too late, A little too wrong, And I can't wait, But you know all the right things to say, You know it's just too little too late, You say you dream of my face, But you don't like me, You're just like the chase, To be real, It doesn't matter anyway, You know it's just too little too late.
Yeah yeahh, It's just too little too late, Mmhmm.
I was young, And in love, I gave you everything but it wasn't enough, And now you wanna communicate (hmph) (you know it's just too little too late).
Go find someone else, In lettin' you go, I'm lovin' myself, You got a problem, But don't come askin' me for help, 'Cause you know.
It's just too little too late, A little too wrong, And I can't wait, But you know all the right things to say, You know it's just too little too late, You say you dream of my face, But you don't like me, You're just like the chase, To be real, It doesn't matter anyway, You know it's just too little too late.
I can love with all of my heart baby, I know I have so much to give (I have so much to give), With a player like you I don't have a prayer, That's the way to liiive, oohh, Mmhmm noo-oo-oo, It's just too little too late, Yeaahh yeaaaah!
It's just too little too late (ohh a lil' too late), A little too wrong, And I can't wait (yeaah yeahh), But you know all the right things to say (woah), You know it's just too little too late (laaa-aate), You say you dream of my face, But you don't like me, You're just like the chase (baby yeaah), To be real, It doesn't matter anyway, You know it's just too little too late (oohh ohh oh oh oh oh).
Yeah yeaah yeaah, You know it's just too little too late (ohh) I can't wait no no noooo...
It's just too little too late, A little too wrong, And I can't wait, But you know all the right things to say (yeeah yeaah), You know it's just too little too late, You say you dream of my face, But you don't like me, You're just like the chase, To be real, It doesn't matter anyway
It took just 40 mins to settle on the components, one trip to the atm and seven hours later, I bundled a bunch of boxes into the cab (with some help from the store assistant naturally) amidst the torrential rain.
I've always liked fixing up computers, connecting the cables and getting the system booted up and running with the necessary updates. And like any idiot can tell you, the pleasure is immeasurably increased, when it's your computer you're fixing up. And the end result:
$1971 poorer but it's money well spent, considering the specs are much better than what one would get at that price for your average pre-packaged computer. I'm still getting used to the monstrous LCD screen after being so used to a 14.1" laptop screen and the crummy 17" crt monitor for ages. Which is good for porngaming i guess.
I'm glad I went to Fuwell at Funan instead of Sim Lim where I'm told the queues are horrendous and the service leaves much to be desired. Broke but happy, that pretty much sums up my position now. ^^
Computer Specifications:
Intel Quad Core E6600 2.4 Ghz 1066Mhz/8MB L2 Asus P5K P35 LGA775 Motherboard Kingston 2GB x 2 5300/667mhz DDR2 RAM. Microsoft Windows Home Vista Premium Seagate 500GB 7200RPM 32mb SATA II Hard disk MSI NX8600GT 256MB DDR3 PcI-E video card (Overclock edition) Samsung 20x DVD +/- writer Cooler Master elite 332 casing with 12cm fan and side window. Altec Lansing VS 2321 2.1 Speakers Samsung 2253LW 21.6" Widescreen LCD Logitech G1 gaming desktop Linksys Wireless G compact USB adapter Cooler Master 460W Extreme Power Plus power supply unit.
I screwed and banged a lot this weekend, probably more so than I'd done in the past four years or so. Admittedly, it wasn't the kind of screwing and banging I prefer but it was gratifying nonetheless. There is something innately satisfying in being able to build something from its initial components, especially if DIY assembling isn't really your thing.
So fixing together a 60 bucks computer table from scratch on Friday night proved to be a sweaty yet strangely therapeutic two hour affair that ultimately gave a sense of amateurish accomplishment.
Never mind that one hole was too big for the allotted screw and I had to hunt through my dad's toolbox for wood chips or that I nearly pulverised my thumb while trying to hammer a nail in a particularly inconvenient position. The table's ready, now to do the homework and determine the desired components for the computer.
Building up the components..*Deep Breath*
Getting there...the end is in sight.
2 Hours later...no more DIYs for a loooong time.
Other than the perfunctory Good Friday and Easter Sunday services which were standard (ie: boring), the rest of the weekend was pretty much spent on the three new Wii games I bought on impulse on Friday too.
After all, Naruto was the game I almost always only played on the woefully neglected wii. I must confess that the retail therapy didn't disappoint even if it did set me back a hefty 259 bucks. Though exercising just became a whole lot less of a chore, so I'd say it's worth it.
Triple whammy: Mortal Kombat, Super Smash Bros Brawl and the highlight, Dance Dance Revolution: Hottest Party.
Dance mat all set up and ready to go :P
Started at 11pm and only stopped at 1.30am, after I felt a little faint from all the frenzied jumping, stomping and wild hand swings. Attempting a 192 beat per minute Karma Chameleon at 1 am in the morning is not advisable. Still, it was the best workout I'd had for a long time and while tiring, remained incredibly fun. It didn't matter that I felt I was cursed with two left feet, my highest grade then being a dismal D, though I'm happy to report I've a total of 5 'A's now. Woot.
Good repertoire of songs with more which are unlockable plus the workout mode which calculates how much calories you've burnt based on your weight and lets you set a self-determined target for the session. If they had this in the 80s, maybe Jane Fonda would have gone out of business.
So many things to do, so little time. And the next two weeks are looking to be positively hellish for work due to two upcoming trials. Bah. Well at least I'll be able to jive those calories away.
A paradox. We don't always know what it means to be humane and yet we are often reminded of the frailties of human nature, what it means to be a human, sometimes painfully so.
Which is why we give exes the perfunctory well wishes, with a stiff smile and forced gaiety, to be happy with their newly beloveds even when we do not feel inclined to. Why? Because it's the human thing to do, even if it leaves one a little embittered, that sharp bitter tang lingering in your mouth.
Some people break up with others then rush into a relationship with new partners they'd already been seeing previously or perhaps simply someone who came along. In such cases, the subsequent behaviour of rushing into a new relationship, while unpleasant to the dumped party nonetheless, is understandable in that the relationship never meant much to the first person in the first place.
I'm the one who initiated the breakup here and it's stupid you must be thinking, "This sod dumps his bf then now gripes about his ex finding someone else?"
Yes and no. It's certainly illogical. Humans can be irrational, the mind does not rule the heart. I guess my gripe is this,"If the relationship meant as much to him as he says it was, how could he so readily find another to like and hold in the short span of a week?" It's ironic that the person who initiated the breakup should still be so hung up over the entire affair while the other injured party who said the relationship meant the world to him has been able to move on to another, to get over the mourning in such a short period of time.
I don't begrudge him his happiness, Sean's certainly entitled to that. But that doesn't expunge this lingering aftertaste or make the fact that it's occurred any more bearable. Humans are irrational. Which is why like I told CS, we do what we do, even though it isn't logical and even if we know what's coming up.
We are human, which is why we do the things we do, love the people the way we love, breakup with exes the way we breakup and hurt the way we hurt. Which is also why Itachi poked Sasuke on the forehead as he use to do before collapsing instead of ripping out his eyeballs like he should have done.
To feel is to be alive. To hurt is to be reminded that I once loved. Though that knowledge doesn't make this pain any more bearable.
He's found someone new, having met at St James a week through a mutual friend a week after the break-up. They're currently getting to know each other better which apparently is their lingo for dating and deciding whether this is the man they want to wake up beside to.
I appreciate that he told me everything in the phone conversation we had just 4 days ago. Even when he isn't obligated to do so. I'm happy for sean and wish him all the best. Then why this bitter aftertaste in my mouth?
The horizon a sooty grey, blinding flashes of lightning ripping the opaque sky, suddenly blossoms shades of violet and scarlet. The roiling clouds seething angrily, colliding blindly into one another in a glorious cacophony, the ensuing thunderstorms a veritable pyrotechnic display. Inanimate objects made animate by the sheer force of energy, that invisible power which pulses through nature.
"We're going through that but you know that already don't you? You feel it?" It was more of a statement than a question. His grip on my hand tightened reassuringly but remained nonrestrictive. A distant roar reached my ears, faint reverberations shaking the gravelly ground. The storms has built up to their zenith, a monstrous entity raging out of control, its core a ferocious maelstrom of immense energy.
"Yes" I whispered. "But do we really have to?" "Why run? It was what you always wanted to see anyway. That insatiable curiosity of yours." The memory of the place aforementioned seems to warp even as I recount it, except that it was the proverbial Hell so often mentioned in ancient religious texts. Sheol. The being beside me none other than the Devil himself.
Not that I had any doubt at that moment. He radiated power, indeed his very presence seemed to be effused with it, the dark seductive charm and strength, an aura about him. I never needed much convincing when he had materialised out of nowhere in that barren gloomy landscape, it was almost as if I had been awaiting his arrival.
No fiery hoof prints or towering bat like wings, no devilish horns or forked tail. "Though if you prefer, I can always manifest as the typical stereotypical preconceptions of the appearance of a devil dictates." He teased. That enigmatic smile. Dressed in a non descript black linen garment, his face remains a hazy blur."Come! It's time. We haven't all day. At least I don't. " He laughed, a rich throaty laugh, the burbling of a brook as it runs over the rocks, only deeper and more sonorous.
Sensing my hesitation, the fear of knowing warring with the gnawing curiosity, he shakes his head slowly in mild consternation yet not without patience. "Humans." A sigh like the whisper of a breeze passing through reeds. Gathering me into his arms, he rises swiftly into the acrid air and with incredible speed we plunged towards the growing nebula of chaos, crackling energies racing across the entire horizon. The sky a sickly purplish-red against a canvas of gloomy grey.
Lightning flashes a hand span away blinding me temporarily and I fancy myself being burnt to a crisp. Ah but we are safe he says and I believe. But why do I? Rebellious and suspicious creature that I am.
But there is no time to think, we are in the maelstrom and its ferocity stuns me. The storm battering at the protective shield surrounding us, attempting to rip it apart and failing. Raging in its frustration and failure, it seems bestial with a predator's hunger. Alive.
And then we are through and the cries and screams of multitudes greet us. "The cries of the damned, the souls consigned to Hell, My Hell." He whispers in response to my look of askance. The sounds of torture coupled with pure unadulterated misery and agony in the shrieks of the tortured swell to an unbearable crescendo.
The smoke clears and the picture of abject suffering and horror I glimpse is beyond any words I can put to paper. It is Dante's Inferno and all the unspeakable horrors conceivable and uncontemplated rolled into one, magnified a thousand times. "NO!" I shrieked as the full significance of the scene sank into me, the cold metallic taste of fear fresh in my mouth.
"Yes. YOUR Hell." And he released me as I plummeted headlong shrieking hysterically, mindless in the consuming terror into the place called Hell, the damned reaching up, their hands clawing up in eager, hungry anticipation.
Then obliterating darkness, inky black and opaque inundating me, a comforting relief. Reddish glow from the electronic bedside clock. 3.33 AM. The dream still fresh in its bizarreness and bloody horror. Memnoch the Devil lying face up on the table, pages rustling under the whirling ceiling fan.
*Turn on bimbo mode* I wanna be a Modern Giiiirrrrl. *Turns off bimbo mode*
Seriously though, I had a good laugh when I saw this music video of Sheena Easton's Modern Girl on youtube. It spoofed the original so well, yet remained true to the essence of the song.
Always nice to have some good mindless entertainment after the mental drain one inevitably experiences after a week at work. Such as boozing with friends. ^^
Sing along now, " I don't build my world 'round no single man. But I'm gettin' by, doin' what I canI am free to be, what I want to be. 'N all what I want to be, is a modern girl...."
Modern Girl - Sheena Easton
He wakes and says hello, turns on the breakfast show She fixes coffee while he takes a shower Hey that was great, he said, I wish we could stay in bed But I got to be at work in less than an hour She manages a smile as he walks out the door She's a modern girl who's been though this way before
Chorus: She don't build her world 'round no single man But she's gettin' by, doin' what she can She is free to be, what she wants to be 'N all what she wants to be, is a modern girl Na na na na na, na na na na na, na na na na na, she's a modern girl
It looks like rain again, she takes a train again She's on her way again through London town Where she keeps a tangerine, flicks through a magazine Until it's time to leave her dreams on the underground She walks to the office like everyone else An independent lady, takin' care of herself
chorus
She's been dreaming 'bout it all day long As soon as she gets home, it's him on the telephone He asks her to dinner, she says I'm not free Tonight I'm going to stay at home and watch my TV
I don't build my world 'round no single man But I'm gettin' by, doin' what I can I am free to be, what I want to be 'N all what I want to be, is a modern girl
Na na na na na, na na na na na, na na na na na, she's a modern girl
