Tag: english

Damn cold damn tired

Today was the first day of rehearsals for the weekend live. Instead of rehearsals it’s more like just getting the sound and stuff right, but nevertheless, it’s “rehearsals”. I didn’t know exactly what time it starts so i showed up there like twenty minutes before 10 am (at which time on better days i’d still be snoring, if i were snoring at all). I was shaking of the cold, but i attributed that to the fact that i woke up much earlier than usual so my blood pressure is low. Luckily (?) i met with third year guy who told me we only need to be there an hour later. Which time i spent trying to wake myself up, with less success than more.

That time we packed all the amps and every other stuff too into a van and walked to the place of the rehearsals, some event hall in a part of town where i’ve only been once if at all. The building is a piece of modern architecture of the tasteless style, meaning concrete and only concrete, with much glass, but generally very cold. So all day i spent shivering, practicing and listening to the others rehearsing – of course we were sorted last so it was way after 8 pm by the time it was our turn.

What else happened: i had lunch of two onigiri and some Pocky. It snowed. It rained.

Now i guess i should be translating the 30th Xros Wars episode but i hardly have the energy to stay awak-


Stratovarius + Helloween @ Namba Hatch

Sunday was the day of my first real gig in the year, Helloween with guest Stratovarius in Namba Hatch, Osaka.

Getting there was a bit troublesome, because i started out late and i also forgot my ticket at home so by the time i got there, Stratovarius were already in the middle of their first song. Shame on me.

The Stratovarius tracklist was pretty amazing. They played great songs, like Legions, Twilight Symphony, Forever and Hunting High and Low among others. The only problem was it felt way too short, they played “only” for an hour or so.

After a break came Helloween. I couldn’t really enjoy the first two songs (both from the most recent album), because some guy behind me was screaming into my ears like a madman. Later however i let a six-or-so years old little boy sit on my shoulder so he could see at least one song.

The Helloween tracklist wasn’t as good as i hoped, but it had many of their classics, and also a medley of their longer songs like Keeper of the Seven Keys and Halloween. Even after the so-so start with recent songs, later the show turned great. The japanese seemed unfamiliar with the “happy happy Helloween” chant, so i showed them that too.

To put it short: fun!


Stuff to watch and translate, spring 2011

Looking at what’s coming in the spring season, there’s plenty i’d want to check out, watch and possibly translate. As for the last, i’d do japanese to english on stuff that’s not simulcasted and i have the opportunity, and do english to hungarian on the stuff that’s simulcasted or someone else is doing it.

  • 俺たちに翼はない (Oretachi ni tsubasa wa nai)
  • 神のみぞ知る世界2 (Kami nomi zo shiru sekai 2)
  • 青の祓魔師 (Ao no exorcist)
  • 電波女と青春男 (Denpa onna to seishun otoko)
  • Deadman Wonderland
  • C
  • A Channel
  • Sket Dance
  • 被弾のアリア (Hidan no Aria)
  • 花咲くいろは (Hana saku Iroha)
  • Steins;Gate
  • ロッテのおもちゃ! (Lotte no omocha)

And of course finish Xros Wars.


COICA and the net

I hate it how the US tries and so far could control the internet. I wonder how many crazy laws they have to make to protect the record and movie industry lobby that would make Google offshore itself to some tiny island country where it alone would produce three times the GDP before.

It’s damn annoying that whenever i register on a phpbb forum i have to confirm i’m over 13 years old, because some american law requires that. How do i care?

Anyway, just now i was reading an Ars article on how copyright holders still cry for more tools to censor the internet. On the one hand it’s scary, because as the article points out, the law will most probably be passed, and i’d bet a substantial amount of money on that it won’t be as narrow-tailored as sen. Franken wishes, no, it’ll be as wide as the pet RIAA’s owners will want it. That would suck, because although they would get their beloved protection from pirating, but it’d cripple the net and not just the american part of it.

If it passes as they want it, i can foresee a mass of trolls heading out to politicians’ blogs, flooding them with links to russian warez sites. I wonder what they’d do then.


On “Seishinism”

Are you familiar with the title Shiki? There was an anime running last year with that title. It’s a really interesting and often disturbing horror piece. And there’s a character, a buddhist monk called Seishin, who has really… unique views on the world. If you didn’t watch the whole of the series yet, don’t read on.


Microblog archives

It’s a shame how it’s pretty much impossible to check older entries on microblogging services. I use twitter and plurk, and every now and then i’d like to check my or someone else’s older entries. Right now i’d be interested about what all those tweeties going on so much nowadays about the riots and general unrest in the middle east wrote when there were riots in Europe (Britain, France, Hungary…). But manually scrolling back thousands of entries only to go back months in the archive? No thanks.


Running Windows Vista

I think i am, seeing how slow i am to boot up after i wake up. First, i hardly ever react correctly to wake up signals, which means that even if i acknowledge the signal, i hardly get to boot up. And even when hours after the last signal i boot up, getting the system to an usable speed takes ages. Usually at least an hour, sometimes even more. By that time i usually feel like i need a quick virus check and defragmenting, which takes another roughly two hours. By that time the hardly achieved speed runs out as the swapfile somehow drops in size. When i manage to get it back normally, it starts to feel like i need a reboot, but i can usually handle that and get to work just how i want. And once i start, it’s not easy to stop, resulting in late night overloads, because of which i need some time offline, usually more than how much the wake up signals would allow.

Vicious circle.


Starbucks Komodo Dragon blend

I bought the Komodo Dragon blend after the Finca el Faro ran out. Since back then i was about to face off with a bunch of tough exams, i bought a full package of the Komodo Dragon as a precaution–it would run out fast anyway, with daily three or so cups during the exam season… I’m having one of the last brews i could get out of it today, so…

While brewing, it filled my room with a really strong coffeey aroma, which had something flowery to it (in look for a better word). It has a soft yet characteristic bold body, and a taste i could only describe as being “black”: it tastes black, with the good roasting, warm tastes just a bit stingy that kind of remind me of some hot spice like pepper.

This black gold from Indonesia is really refreshing, especially on a cold winter morning with its warmness, but as a bold blend expect that it has a good weight to it as well.


Happenings

I’ve been feeling the urge to blog for days, but somehow i could never find the right time to start writing. Now i forced myself, but that means you shouldn’t have high expectations.

My daily activities have not been all that varied lately. Considering it’s spring break, it’s not surprising at all, but still…

Wake up sometime, try translating something, then go to gym and running before the sun goes down and it gets too cold, then do more translations. Trying to catch up to Star Driver and finish Shiki as soon as possible, while doing timely on the weeklies of Digimon, Yumekui and Gosick. Actually, just yesterday i saw that [gg] is recruiting translators, so i applied. It’d be great if i got that post…

Also, i bought the cheapest possible tv tuner that i could get for my computer, which ended up a usb Buffalo one, but i guess i’ll have to get a decent antenna for it, because now it can hardly get any signal not to mention HD broadcast… And here i had high hopes…

And yesterday we went to karaoke with the club, it was fun. (We were many, so i only sang (sic), Daydream Syndrome (with girls’ help, i couldn’t make it to that pitch by myself) and I fought the law.) Next week’s already practice, so i should get ready for that as well.


Heat up

Today we had a club meeting after long, and beside the Rancid it seems i’ll be taking part in a Iron Maiden copy as well. This doubled my total song count. (Up to no good, Fall back down and Out of control from Rancid and Mother Russia, Wildest Dreams and The Fallen Angel from Iron Maiden).

And after countless times of fruitless asking, i finally managed to get the date of the ski trip out of the office people: 14-17th this month. It’s a bit troublesome because for 14th we planned the farewell party of the korean girl in the club (who also lives in the dorm), and i have plenty to do there, so i only hope it’s like late night departure and i’ll be able to be there at the party. If not, now that’s not going to be nice i’m afraid.

Also, with this decided, i have all that i need to know about my spring break—now the only thing left is to figure out how i’ll be able to pay moving to the new apartment, especially considering it’ll be bare empty, so i’ll have to buy everything for myself (from something to sleep on to something to cook on). I’ll have two concerts to enjoy and one to also perform, i’ll have a ski trip, i’ll have to go to renew my visa, i’ll have to move… And i still have heaps of anime to translate.