Kuroneko Doumei

Suggoi Nakama
30 December 2006

I'm a bit happier in this update than I was on the last one. We actually managed to do some assaults last night even though we only had 5 people. As usual we chose the Lebros Cavern mission. On the first attempt we completed it with about 1 minute to spare due to the shortage of manpower. Had to kill a Qiqirn for the mine in the last 5 minutes and luckily it dropped on the first kill. The second attempt didn't go quite as well... We got to the last wall with about the same amount of time left as before so decided to kill the Qiqirns again. Unfortunately it didn't drop, not even after we killed another 3 of them. Time ran out and we failed the mission. For the last attempt we changed our tactic to killing the Qiqirns from the off instead of beating up the walls. This method works very well and we cleared the mission with plenty of time to spare. Overall I think I got about 2,100 points for the night which I'm happy with. I just hope we get to do it again soon and that people continue to be motivated to keep to a regular schedule.

I just read that my friend is returning to FFXI after a long absence. This is very good news as I've missed her company on the game since she left. I haven't spoken to her yet but I hope to do so later on tonight. This is yet another member of the linkshell to return to the game in the last month or so. Lots of familiar faces have come back and we're having a good time catching up. It reminds me a lot of the glory days of Guardians of Vana'diel. I just hope everyone sticks around for awhile.

Got the Morning Musume album "No.5" in the post yesterday. I'll post more about it when I get some pictures taken.

Posted byHocchan at 8:02 pm 0 comments  

Merry Pin Xmas
27 December 2006

This going to be a kind of rant. The reason being that I'm rather unhappy about the last couple of days. Christmas Day and today have been so crappy it's depressing. Last year was great, I had lots of fun with Ardel and Cata on FFXI doing BCNMs. This year, however, I did... absolutely bloody sod all. I'm also suffering from this infernal cold which has made me feel horrible for the last few days. I've had headaches, fevers, coughs, aching muscles and nausea. This hasn't exactly helped my mood. Sometimes I hate holidays, they ruin everything. All normal schedule goes out the window. Plan to do something and it doesn't happen, it gets cancelled to hell. I'm going to be really selfish now. I can't stand it when a commitment isn't kept. Planned to do Assault. No problem, we can do that. Didn't happen. Planned to go subligar hunting. Sure, why not. Never mind, do it tomorrow. When I'm busy! For God's sake. If you can't do it don't tell me you can. Sitting there for hours, waiting patiently for something to happen and then having nothing materialise really irritates me. God damn, I'm so annoyed!

Will probably regret this post in the morning after I've had time to reflect. But I'm not going to delete it. I think I do have some right to complain, no matter how small. Christmas? Bah, humbug!

Posted byHocchan at 2:35 am 0 comments  

Kira Kira Fuyu No Shiny G
17 December 2006

I'm so happy!!!! Today has been an utterly superb day! I woke up this morning to find a lovely package lying on my doormat. It was the mini album I had ordered from YesAsia on the 12th December. I can't believe how quick it has arrived considering it's so close to Christmas. But damn! I'm glad it's here. This is my first Morning Musume album which I have bought brand new so it's quite an occasion. Obviously due to my rather obsessive side of my personality I bought the limited edition version. It comes with a DVD with a couple of tracks from their 2006 concert tour. Despite there only being 6 tracks and despite the fact I've only listened to it once at the moment, I'm still absolutely in love with this mini album. Every song is excellent in ways I couldn't have imagined. It's all done in a very Christmas style arrangement with bells and twinkly sounds everywhere. It certainly sets the mood for the season. Something else I've noticed is that this album has some fantastic bass. Even on a normal speaker system the bass with rock your house to the foundations. /laugh I give this album 10/10! Now go away, I'm going to put it on repeat for the rest of the day.

Posted byHocchan at 7:22 pm 0 comments  

Popcorn Love
13 December 2006

Quite a bit of news to report in this update. Where should I start? The arrival of 'Second Morning' in the post seems as good a place as any. As predicted I woke up to find it sitting on the doormat. The package was the same size as the previous parcel so I wondering what the extra gift could have been. I cut open the envelope and took out a neatly wrapped CD case. Still seeing no sign of extra items I assumed that they'd forgotten or something. I removed the bubble wrapping and took a look at the item. The outer box was in decent condition, could have been better but for 99p I'm happy enough. The photo book was of a better condition with only the front cover slightly worn from rubbing on the inside the box. The CD case was also in a good state with hardly a mark on it. Upon opening the case I was surprised to find there were two CDs contained inside. Taking a look at the top one I realised that it was the 'Mr Moonlight' single! Along with the front and back covers of the case it was originally in. All were in very good condition too. I have to say, as free gifts go this was one of the best. I couldn't have asked for much more. Thank you to the very kind seller for his generosity.

Having listened to the album a few times now I'm beginning to form an opinion on it. It's a mix of styles between the first and third albums. I don't think it has the charms of either though. It's not that it doesn't have any good songs on it - 'Senkou Hanabi' and 'Furusato' are classics. I think the main problem is that the other songs on there aren't really anything special. Overall I'd probably rate 'Second Morning' a 6/10.

Staying with Morning Musume news, they recently finished the 8th generation auditions. In the 'Hello! Morning' episode aired last Sunday it was revealed that Mitsui Aika was chosen as the sole winner. Personally I was very surprised by this decision as I thought that the other contenders seemed to have a better chance. However, I'm not disappointed and I think the new girl will do very well in the coming years. One thing that has left a bitter taste in this whole affair is the reactions of the so-called 'fans'. Many of them are being downright nasty and malicious with their remarks about Aika. Just because their favourites did not win they think it gives them the right to slag off the new girl, just because she was the least favourite out of them all. These people are totally despicable. I hope they sod off if they're so unhappy with the decision.

Finally after a couple more phone calls I've sorted out my missing benefits payment. It seems that due to a system error my claim had not been completed. The guy on the phone said that he'd now sorted it all out and that I should get my payment in my account by this Friday. This is all a big relief. I plan on using a big chunk of the money to pay my credit card which will take me back under the limit. The money I have spare I can use to treat myself. In fact I've already bought the new Morning Musume mini album, '7.5 Fuyu Fuyu' (First Press Limited Edition). Ordered it yesterday evening and had it shipped out the same day. Hopefully it should get here before Christmas. It'll make a nice birthday present /joy.

Posted byHocchan at 2:08 pm 1 comments  

Show Me The Money!
09 December 2006

Still no news of when the stupid Job Centre is going to pay me my money. It's almost been 4 weeks since I first rang them about my claim. I'm going to call them again on Monday and if it's still not done I'll get very irate and start breaking things. They'd also better give me the money owed for the last two times they haven't paid me. If they try and fob me off with a single fortnight's worth of allowance I'm going to release some plague-infected rats into their offices.

Abdomen is still hurting, although the pain does seem less intense now. I'll take some Paracetamol and that should hopefully blank it out completely. I'm not of those people who takes medicines for every little ache and pain but this time I'll give into the drugs. Normally I'd just endure it and wait for it to pass. This time though it's been hurting for so long I'm getting tired and irritated by it. I hate pain. I imagine most people do (except for maybe flagellants) but in my case I hate it because I can't see the point of it. Sure, it's a way for the body to tell you that there's something wrong with a particular organ or whatever. But is there a goddamn need for it to hurt so freaking much?! Bloody primitive nervous system. I'd rather be a robot.

I was expecting my eBay parcel to arrive this morning but it didn't. I was really looking forward to it too as the seller sent me an e-mail saying that they'd included a Christmas present with my item. I doubt it's going to be anything special but it's a nice thought. I can't really imagine what it'll be though. An official photo of one of the members of Morning Musume would be superb but I doubt it very much. In any case I'm guessing that the package will arrive on Monday morning.

Posted byHocchan at 12:51 pm 0 comments  

Samishii Hi
08 December 2006

The pain! In so much pain! Last couple of days have been excruciatingly painful. It feels like I'm being stabbed in my abdomen by a large pitchfork. I hope it goes away soon or I'll start to get worried. I swear this is a conspiracy by MySpace who have poisoned me with Polonium after I've started to slag their website off. Damn you Tom, you sod-monkey!

I received the 'First Time' Morning Musume album in the post a few days ago. I haven't had chance to get a decent photo yet as the weather has been rather crappy this week. I'll get them done when I get the other album that's on the way - 'Second Morning' - sometime in the next few days. I've not listened to it much yet but first impressions are good. I dare say it could be one of their best albums. There's something very pure about the feel of the album. This is very much the classical sound of Morning Musume. One of my favourite tracks is the last song called 'Samishii Hi'. It's very slow and sad which really makes you feel melancholic. The vocals and arrangements are hauntingly beautiful. The title translates as 'Sad Day' and it fits perfectly with the mood of the song. I'll definitely be listening to this album a lot more.

Completed Final Fantasy XII today, which came as rather a shock. I didn't expect the game to end so soon, it feels very short compared to the other games. The ending sequence wasn't a disappointment though. Rendered in glorious 3D graphics it tied up the plot perfectly. I can't say I understood all of it but there was enough there for me to feel satisfied. All that remains now is for the UK version to be released so I can finally understand what's being said.

Posted byHocchan at 7:05 pm 1 comments  

Ai Wo Kudasai
01 December 2006

Feh! is all I can say. Still not received my first Job Seekers Allowance payment yet despite the fact that I applied for it more than 3 weeks ago. I rang them earlier but they could only tell me that it was still in processing. They told me that it should be done soon though, and that I should ring back on Monday morning. I guess it's good news that they have it in the system. I hope it gets done in the next few days so I can get some money. Otherwise the credit card company will be on my back bugging me for payment again.

Against my better judgement I bought another one of 'Morning Musume's albums on eBay. This time I won their first album "First Time" for a measly $6. With the exchange rate at almost $2 to £1, it hasn't really cost me all that much. I really wanted to get their 5th album "No. 5" so I put in a bid early on but was outbid. I planned on using my last minute bidding tactic again but unfortunately I fell asleep and didn't wake up until 30mins after the auction had ended. Normally a 3am finish wouldn't have been a problem for me but I guess I must have been pretty tired that night. Oh well, I'm sure there's going to be another copy for sale soon. The seller is one who regularly sells various Hello! Project CDs.

Whilst I'm waiting for more 'Gokusen'/'Nodame' episodes to be released I'm giving 'Teppan Shoujo Akane' a go. I've only seen 2 episodes so far so I can't really an accurate review of it yet but first impressions are good. It reminds me of 'Yakitate! Japan' a lot. The plot is about a girl who's searching for her Father, all the while trying to perfect the family's famous Okonomiyaki flavour. The drama isn't getting a very good reception in the forums but I don't agree with their criticisms of the show. I'm going to reserve judgement until after I've seen a few more episodes.

As I have no Final Fantasy XI to play at the moment I've been playing XII instead. I've clocked up around 80 hours so far but I don't think I'm too far into the plot yet. Most of my time has been taken up by doing the Monster Hunts that are in the game. The difficulty of the targets range from Rank E to Rank X. I'm currently clearing up the list of Rank H (one level below X - of which there is only 1). The fight with Gilgamesh was the most memorable. Whole thing took about 1 hour from start to finish, though it was split into 2 parts. After beating him I received a Masamune katana which is so DAMN GOOD! Add to that the full set of Genji armour which I stole during the fight with Gilgamesh and you have one powerful fighter. Of course I've given it all to Ashe as she's my favourite character. The amount of combo attacks she does now reminds me of how my FFXI character is with the Soboro Sukehiro. I guess I should carry on with the plot a little bit now. At least until I feel the urge to go hunt King Behemoth. /laugh

Posted byHocchan at 4:55 pm 1 comments  

Rebanira Itame
27 November 2006

Yay! The third Morning Musume album - '3rd Love Paradise' - came in the post this morning. I'm listening to it right know as I'm writing out this update. You can't see from the photos but this seller has packaged the whole thing very well to prevent any possibility of damage during transit. I'm fond of people who take the time and care to make sure their items reach their destination safely so kudos to him. For some reason the guy included 3 used Tokyo Metro cards with my item, which you can see in the third photo. They are pretty interesting though, so it's not an unwelcome extra.

The CD condition is pretty good although the case does have a few marks on the surface. Considering it's quite a few years old, however, I'm not too concerned about it. Inside, the booklet and obi are in good condition with very little signs of wear. The CD itself is pretty much in a brand new state with very little in terms of blemishes on the playing surface. Overall, I'm pleased with my purchase.

I previously wrote about how I was eager to listen to this album because of the seemingly wacky tracks on it. Having listened to it a few times through I can safely say I was right about the craziness. /laugh The first and last tracks which are in spoken form are pretty interesting. Each of the girls says a little bit during the track and they finish by saying, 'ohayou'/'oyasumi' (good morning/goodnight). I guess they're trying to get across the feeling that all the songs are like single day condensed into an album. The middle track, aptly named 'Lunchtime', is incredibly weird to say the least. It takes the form of a spoof radio interview with the members of "Morning Mask". The whole 'song' is mainly the host saying various comments for situations and then the girls replying with, 'Rebanira Itame' (normally meaning Liver and Leek stir-fry but in this case nonsensical phrase). Interspersed are little funky sections of the 'Rebanira Itame' phrase accompanied by a rap-like beat. Truly odd stuff, but I love it! /laugh

One other song of note is the tenth track, 'WHY'. This is the one where all the individual syllables of the lyrics are broken up and sung by each member in turn. Listening to this song is a very strange experience. The editing makes each syllable come from seemingly different sides of your headphones. Although the splicing of each syllable into the words isn't quite perfect (I assume it was intentionally done for this effect) the flow of the song works quite well. It's a bit hard to explain in words the uniqueness of this song though.

'3rd Love Paradise' is very old school Morning Musume (at least to me, but at the time it was pretty fresh and new). Their best selling single 'Love Machine' is present, along with 'Koi no Dance Site' - another one of their most popular songs. I can see how this is their best selling album to date. Very good stuff.

Posted byHocchan at 12:07 pm 0 comments  

Densha No Futari
24 November 2006

I received my other 'Ikimasshoi' CD in the post on Saturday morning. I won't bother taking any pictures of it since it's pretty much the same as the other copy. It's nice to have an unopened CD though. Everything on this one is just that little bit better condition. I still haven't received the 'Love Paradise' album yet. I'm expecting that to arrive tomorrow morning. I'm looking forward to listening to the songs on that CD as they sound very interesting. The first, sixth and last tracks on the album are sort of like spoken poems. There's also a song that mixes each member's singing into individual syllables but still retain the flow of a normal song, ie. one syllable of a word would be from one member, then the next syllable would be from a different member and so on, for all of the lyrics. Can't wait to see how that turns out. Very intriguing.

It's almost been a month since I took a break from Final Fantasy XI and I think it's done me good. I'm starting to feel like I want to play the game again now whereas before I'd have no motivation to play. I hope when I get back my friends will still be around. It'll be nice to catch up on the news.

Posted byHocchan at 5:02 pm 0 comments  

Hajime No Rock Concert
23 November 2006

Ah, the joys of the modern world. It's only been 3 days since the seller sent me the CD I won on eBay and it's arrived in the post already. I wasn't expecting it to be delivered until next week as airmail is quoted as taking 7-21 days. This means that the other 2 CDs should arrive tomorrow if all things are equal. Considering the low price of airmail it's not a bad result.

The one I got today was the incorrect copy the seller had sent by accident. It's still in mint condition though. The condition of the outer box is still in good order with only a few relatively minor indentations. The poster which comes with the item is practically new with no sign of it ever being unfolded more than once. The CD case, obi and booklet are also in a similar state. The disc itself has maybe one or two very small scratches on the surface near the outer edge. Doesn't affect the playback in any way though. Overall, you can tell whoever owned the CD originally had obviously taken good care of it which is lucky for me. I do have to remind myself that this isn't the item I paid for though, and that the even newer version is still on it's way.

Posted byHocchan at 4:03 pm 0 comments  

Senkou Hanabi

This is just a short update I wanted to write before I forgot. I just e-mailed my teacher at my old school regarding my university application. After my unsuccessful attempt to get onto a course this summer I've decided to apply early for the 2007 semester. Hopefully I'll get the help I need to be accepted onto my preferred course. The drive to visit Japan is growing stronger every passing day and I'm determined to fulfil this ambition. This is one step towards my dream.

Last little thing I wanted to write about was the great exchange rates the Pound is getting lately. According to the latest conversion at XE.com the Pound to Dollar rate is £1.00 = $1.91. The Pound is also strong against the Yen with the rate at £1.00 = 223.28 Yen. Good time to import stuff! /joy Makes us Brits a powerhouse when bidding on eBay too. /laugh

Posted byHocchan at 2:30 am 0 comments  

Desire Jounetsu
22 November 2006

Well, had my first signing-on for my Job Seekers Allowance. I was kind of surprised at how short the whole thing was. I arrived 10 minutes before the arranged time as agreed to check the computer terminals for available jobs. After that I went up to the first floor and handed my booklet in. The guy sat me down, asked me how my job search was going and asked me to sign a piece of paper. Once this was done I was free to go. It took all of 5 minutes if I'm being generous with my estimate. I expect my next meeting to be a little longer, maybe.

Had a little bit of good fortune a couple of days ago, which was nice. Found a limited edition copy of Morning Musume's 4th album 'Ikimasshoi' on eBay for a low price. Great thing is that the CD itself hasn't been opened so it's practically in new condition. I bided my time until 5 minutes before the end of the auction before making a bid. Unfortunately some guy from France had the same idea and we ended up in a bidding war. He started off with a low bid of $5.99 which I beat by doubling. He made a couple more bids, all of which were under mine, until he eventually went higher by $3. At this point there was only 1 minute left on the clock so I kept my final bid for the last few seconds. At 15 seconds to go I went with my bid of $20 and won the auction. That guy must have been so pissed off! /laugh This wasn't my good fortune though. This came a little later when the seller e-mailed me to inform me that he'd sent the item. I got a second e-mail later on in which he told me that he'd sent the wrong, opened copy instead of the unopened copy shown in the auction. He told me I would be receiving two CDs and that I didn't need to return the he'd sent by mistake. Two CDs for the price of one, superb. I did also win an auction for Morning Musume's 3rd album for £1. Hope my lucky streak continues!

Posted byHocchan at 8:11 pm 0 comments  

Tomato Ketchup 100% OK
17 November 2006

Hurrah! Children in Need is back. I have a soft spot for this annual charity event which raises millions of pounds for children in the UK. They always have loads of one-off specials of current TV programmes which is a great laugh. There's also some half decent music sometimes (I say 'sometimes' as the opening act this year's was 'McFly' which drags it down a bit). As ever it's presented by the legend that is Terry Wogan ("ha ha ha"), along with Fearne Cotton and Natasha Kaplinsky as co-hosts. I have no doubt they'll break last year's total at the end of the night. Long live Pudsey!

I finally gave in and applied for Job Seekers Allowance. I had my interview today and we discussed what help I would get in seeking a job, along with going over the agreement which I had to sign. My first signing-on is next Tuesday which I'm quite nervous about but it should go smoothly. Hopefully I'll get some money soon which will allow me to pay off some of my credit card debt. Even better would be that I'm able to get a full time job in the process.

Looks like November's a month for new version releases. I've now got a new version of Blogger to work with. I'm not sure what to make of it quite yet as I've only just changed over from the old one. It's pretty much the same to be honest, save a few short cuts added here and there. One thing it did reveal though is that I've had a whole stack of unmoderated comments from the past year! /laugh I had no idea they had been posted. I could have sworn I'd set it so it e-mailed me whenever someone posted a comment but I guess not. For everyone who's commented on one of my posts and not had it published I'd like to offer my sincere apologies. Please forgive me! I'll promise to check it more often now so something like this never happens again.

Posted byHocchan at 9:11 pm 0 comments  

Itakunai Mon!
11 November 2006

"What?", I hear you cry, "Where's the picture?! /shock /awe /weaponsofmassdestruction /idiotpresident". Well, I decided to go without one just for this entry to mix it up a little. Plus it's nice to take a break from all the HTML needed to display those images. /laugh It's also going to be a pretty short update as I'm super tired at the moment.

Got 'Advent Children' and 'Memoirs of a Geisha' on DVD last week. Best thing was they were free! Well, effectively free anyway. I received a survey about credit cards in my e-mail a few weeks ago. Normally I'd delete these straight away but on this one they were offering some vouchers to Amazon for my time so I filled the form in. For about 20 minutes of typing they sent me £5 and £10 vouchers to spend at Amazon. Got those two DVDs because I'd been meaning to buy them for awhile.

Watching 'Advent Children' again was good fun. Even though I've seen it loads of times already I still love the action sequences in it. 'Memoirs of a Geisha' was probably as good as I expected it to be. Having read the book before watching the film I felt that there was a lot of crucial elements missing from the script. Despite this I can understand that it would be truly difficult to show everything from a novel in just 2 hours of film. I felt that what they did include of the story was good enough to give a rough idea of the book. The acting was very good throughout. In particular the performance of Sayuri by Zhang Ziyi and Mameha by Michelle Yeoh. I did find it odd however that the 3 main characters of the cast of a film set in Japan were actually Chinese. Not sure why the casting director decided this but it worked out well enough.

Posted byHocchan at 11:53 pm 0 comments  

Suki Sugite Baka Mitai
03 November 2006

A new month and another new theme. It was only a couple of updates ago when I changed my banner but I've made a new one already. Not only that but I overhauled the layout completely and used a different template. I think that this version of the site is the best out of all the previous editions. It's very bright and stylish, just how I like it.

You may ask why I decided to change it after such a short time? Well, you can blame Mozilla in a funny sort of way. I happened to read that they'd released Firefox 2.0 a few days ago and I decided to download it. It's got some very nice improvements to the tabbed browsing and there's a new spell check plug-in that I find very useful. Even better is that it's a BRITISH dictionary. None of your namby-pamby "Aluminum" here, thank you very much (as a matter of fact it highlighted "Aluminum" as incorrect when I typed it)! After installation I chose a nice, sleek theme since my old one wasn't compatible with 2.0 yet. Anyway, after getting 2.0 I wondered if Microsoft had released a new Media Player yet. Upon checking I found out that indeed they had, so I downloaded that too. Windows Media Player 11 is very slick indeed. It features a sexy, shiny black interface that looks like something off an Apple Mac. They improved the layout of the buttons and rearranged the library section. Very nice.

Horie Yui's official website got a make-over too at the start of November. It's looking totally fantastic and stunning now. Perfectly fitting for a beauty such as her. They added a section where you can write her a message which I tried out. I'm not sure if it works yet, I didn't get a confirmation message when I pressed 'send'. Guess I'll try again later to make sure. Also on the list of new updates was AVG 7.5, a free anti-virus software that I use. They also improved the interface to make it look cleaner and more modern. So you see, with all this improvement and updating going on I suddenly had the desire to change my blog's look again. It should be fixed now for a good few months so I can get used to how it feels. At least until I get another urge to redecorate! /laugh

Posted byHocchan at 11:01 pm 0 comments  

Faito, Oh!
20 October 2006

It's been an eventful week. First off came Gokusen, a new drama I've started to watch. It's about Yamaguchi Kumiko, a keen school teacher who starts her first teaching job at Shirokin high school. Unfortunately for her she gets stuck with class 3-D, who turn out to be a bunch of delinquent students which are on the verge of getting kicked out of school. In spite of this she still believes they can all achieve a lot more than people expect them to. She declares in the first episode that she will get every single one of them to graduate. To complicate this further it is revealed that Kumiko is actually a 4th generation heir to a Yakuza family. She must keep her true identity a secret otherwise it is almost certain she will get fired. At first the students don't pay any attention to her, preferring to do their own thing in class. After awhile, however, through persistence (and a lot of stern telling-offs) they slowly begin to warm to their new teacher.

This drama makes a nice change from the previous ones I've been watching as it's a lot more fun and light hearted. I particularly love the way there are funny little sound effects to go with movements of the hand or face. I also like the way Kumiko sometimes address the viewer with little comments on her thoughts. Nakama Yukie does a good job of playing a Yakuza teacher. The way she'll switch to gangster talk when she gets angry is brilliant and a joy to watch. I'll definitely be watching out for her other dramas.

Just last Wednesday there was the October update for FFXI. It had been announced ages ago and it was high time it appeared. The big reason for wanting this particular update was the new abilities and adjustments to the Samurai job. We now have Hasso (an ability which adds lots of STR, haste and accuracy) and Seigan (an ability which vastly improves Third Eye) in our arsenal. I've been having a good time experimenting with them in the game and I'm very happy they've added so much. There are some morons who still complain it's not enough but I totally disregard their arguments. Bloody moaning sods is all they are!

PS. Happy Birthday to my friend, Mike, who turned 22 last Wednesday!

Posted byHocchan at 10:08 pm 1 comments  

Anata No Haato Ni Enjeru Biimu
14 October 2006

"Heaven... I'm in heaven, and my heart beats so that I can hardly speak"! As you may have guessed I'm rather happy today. Why? Because I found a plethora of Horie Yui pictures while searching the internet. I was looking to design a new banner for the blog but was unable to find any decent photos via Google. I decided to give the Japanese Yahoo's search engine a go as it'd probably turn up better results. Low and behold I came across a bulletin board for Horie Yui pictures. There were loads! And of a good quality too. I was grinning from ear-to-ear after that. I've saved most of them to my hard drive so you can expect the next load of posts to feature a picture of Yui. /laugh

Speaking of the new banner, this is actually the second version that I made. The original one was 700x150 but because the coding of the layout was being such a pain in the arse I couldn't get it to display properly. Unfortunately I don't have enough experience of HMTL to be able to fix the problem. Therefore, I decided to remake it using a different picture and in 700x70 format. I very pleased with how this new one looks, it's more colourful and flamboyant than the predecessors. Lovely-jubbly!

Unable to wait any longer for the subbed versions of 'Lunch no Joou' to be released I've decided to watch them in RAW form. I'm actually surprised how much I understand without any subtitles to aid me. I can follow the main story of the episode and can pick up 50% of what they're saying. Gives me confidence in my abilities. I'm very pleased to be able to finish watching the last two episodes of this drama. I've enjoyed it very much as it's a very funny and happy, family series. Not that there aren't any sad moments, there are, but these don't tend to last very long and everyone becomes upbeat again after a quick resolution of the problem. The fact that there's delicious looking plates of food in almost every shot also helps this drama! I found myself salivating whenever it showed them cooking a dish of 'Omurice'; a tasty-looking meal of chicken in fried rice, mixed with ketchup, wrapped in an omelette and with demiglace sauce drizzled all over it. Yum! Anyhow, I'm going to watch the last episode tonight. Can't wait!

Posted byHocchan at 10:37 pm 0 comments  

Taiyou No Uta
13 October 2006

Urgh! I think I'm coming down with another cold. That'll be the third one this year. I swear my immune system is getting worse for some reason. I never used to get a cold or the flu as easily as this. It's not too bad at the moment, just slight sore throat and headache. Should be better by next week.

There isn't much to report about FFXI. I've just been levelling my Paladin on the nights I can get a party. I may not be able to afford the fee for November unless I can get a job soon. I hope I can because I have a load of Tree Saplings I'm growing in my Mog House. If I can't check up on them regularly they'll die and all my work will have been for nothing. /sigh

I saw the last episode of 'Taiyou no Uta' last night and it's made me quite melancholic again. The ending was very emotional to watch and made you wish it had turned out differently. This is a bit of a spoiler but I guess no one I know is really interested in these dramas so it's OK to write about it. During the final scenes of the drama Kaoru finally manages to achieve her dream of getting a public debut thanks to Asami. However, just as they are about to go on stage she begins to start choking and is unable to breath properly. In the end she dies before she has had the chance to appear. I kept hoping that they would have one last, wonderful performance in front of everyone before she passed away but it wasn't to be. It seemed so cruel but I guess that's what they story writers had intended. For pure emotion I don't think this drama can compare to '1 Litre of Tears' but in it's own way it was entertaining to watch. It conveys the same message of living your life to it's fullest, each and everyday, as we never know when it will end. It's something I'm trying to do myself in my own life. I hope I can have the same determination and courage that these dramas have shown.

Posted byHocchan at 10:52 pm 0 comments  

Soboro Sukehiro
30 September 2006

Gomen nasai! Seems that after my (not so) uber 100th post that I've suddenly lost all energy to continue updating. After some much needed rest I've finally got enough motivation to write another post. There's quite a lot to report actually so this will be a fairly large review.

Lets start with some Final Fantasy XI news. A few weeks ago I organised a Soboro Sukehiro (great katana) run with the help of a few members from my Dynamis linkshell. Though only a handful of people signed up for it on the forums there was quite a large turnout when it came to the gathering time. I was suprised that so many people were willing to help. The run turned out to go very well, despite me dying before any fighting had been done! /laugh We got five Soboro Sukehiros in the end, one of them being mine. /joy

I've been having lots of fun with my new katana. It's so simple to pull off a solo Light skillchain now - provided of course the "2-3 attacks" effect kicks in once between each weapon skill. The damage on it is a little weak but that doesn't matter, it's still one fantastic sword. Plus I like how it looks. I'm very grateful to those people who helped me get the Soboro. I never thought I'd manage to get one in all my time playing FFXI but here I am with one in my possession.

I also managed to get all of my Paladin AF done in the last couple of weeks. The Garlaige Citadel coffer was such a pain. It took me several weeks of waiting until I happened to chance on a nice party who helped me get around the gates. Zansho also came to help me out too and in the end, after 4 hours of searching, I finally got my Gallant Coronet. I never want to go through that coffer search again.

As if that wasn't tough enough I decided to be crazy and solo my Surcoat quest. There were reports on the Allakhazam forums that you could fight only the PLD NM and still get the item you needed. So I subbed Ninja and went off to Davoi to give it a shot. When I spawned the 2 NMs I ran like crazy to the Monastic Cavern zone and went in. Came back out and saw the Ranger orc but the Paladin orc was nowhere to be found. To make matters worse some random Warrior decided to fight the Ranger as he was walking back. This delayed things a lot. Eventually the Warrior gave up and the Ranger reached the well to despawn. For some odd reason I couldn't spawn them after this. So I zoned out and back in to see if that did the trick. Thankfully it did and I once again ran to the zone with the 2 NMs chasing me. I stopped just short of the line though and made sure the Paladin was right next to me before zoning. I came back out and he was still stood outside so I engaged him. Unfortunately I ended up linking the 2 weaker orcs in the area so I had to kill them before starting on the NM.

Once those were dead I began killing the Paladin. I'd built up TP on those other orcs so I used Yukikaze, followed it with a Meikyo Shisui, Gekko, and Kasha to make Light. This took about half his life away. I used Meditate and while my TP was filling up he just so happened to drop my last shadow. Unfortunately I only had Ichi left so the casting was slow. Due to this just as I press the macro for Yukikaze my Meikyo Shisui effect wears off. There goes my Fragmentation... /cry If I'd got the last skillchain in time the fight would have ended a lot sooner but as it was it began to drag out.

By this point I was pretty low on health but luckily a random person came by and cured me a few times. This guy saved my life because without that help I would have surely died. The struggle continued for another 5 minutes by which time the NM and I were both low on health. He kept spamming Cure IV to stay alive while I did the same with Utsusemi. I decided to switch to my Soboro at this point so that I'd get TP fast to try and stun his Cure IVs. Eventually with me on 200HP left he succumbed to a double attack from the Soboro and fell to the ground. I was so in shock that it didn't sink in for a few seconds. I couldn't believe I had won after all that. I was actually shaking I was so hyped up. That was the toughest fight I have ever done. I felt so damn proud of myself after that. I traded my item and finished off the quest to get my Surcoat from Prince Trion. Man, what a rush that was. It's not something I'll forget anytime soon.

For the last week or so I've been watching 'Taiyou no Uta' which stars Sawajiri Erika once again as a girl who has a serious illness. The story is about Amane Kaoru who has a condition called 'XP' which makes her unable to be in direct sunlight. Because of this she spends most of her life at night. Her passion was her singing and song writing. She'd often go out to the local park to play her music. With her went her treasured guitar which she'd picked up in her past during a hospital stay. Through some lucky coincidences she meets up with the owner of the guitar and their relationship develops from there.
It's a lot lighter drama than '1 Littoru no Namida' was but it does have it's sad moments. Sawajiri Erika herself does a good job of playing this ill girl who is still so full of zest for life. She's changed her appearance a lot since but still looks as stunning as ever. Overall I'm liking this drama a lot and am looking forward to watching the remaining few episodes.

Wow, this entry has turned out to be longer than my 100th post by miles. /laugh Just shows how pants the last post was, huh? Oh well...

Posted byHocchan at 9:37 pm 0 comments  

100 E Youkoso!
01 September 2006

Yatta! Welcome to the 100th post! Congratulations to me for reaching this centenary. It's only taken me 18 months to do it! /laugh So what goodies do I have in store for all you avid readers? Well, we will start with a nice 'Top 5' ranking list of quotes from my previous updates. I've looked through my old entries and picked out some gems for everyone to enjoy again. A few of them I'd forgotten writing but I had a good old chuckle re-reading them. OK, lets get on with the show!

********************************************************************************
1.) "I'd better bloody get a job or I'm going to petrol bomb the sodding place."
2.) "Makes me want to go hunt them down and hit them with a shovel."
3.) "Just give me a job or I'll cry!"
4.) "Atchoo!! Urgh, sorry, I'm allergic to bullshit."
5.) "I sound like I'm a serial killer in a quiet American suburb or something...bwahahaha! Where's my knife?"
********************************************************************************

As you can see, a couple of them are related to my current unemployed predicament. I did like number 4 a lot but since it wasn't really a quote from me I felt it couldn't be placed too high in the chart. Hmm... from looking at the chart you could say that I'm an insecure, jobless psychopath. /laugh

Here is a commemorative picture I made for the occasion. It's built up using 100 photos from my collection. The majority of it was from the trip to Ingleton Waterfalls a couple of days ago. I didn't quite have enough pictures to make 100 so I had to use a few from the previous trips to Grizedale and Beacon Fell.

OK now, it was originally meant to say "100" in the middle, with the photos as the numbers. Kind of like those big posters you see where a picture of say... Yoda, is made up of pictures from the Star Wars films. Except I couldn't quite pull it of. One - because it's not really big enough, and two - because I'm too lazy to rearrange all those pictures. /laugh So you'll just have to enjoy it for what it is.

Right, onto the main news. Last week I went for my job trial at Tesco. I arrived there and they immediately sat me down at the reception desk and a lady showed me what the basics were. She showed me how to answer the phones and what to do if someone wanted something. They also made me use the tannoy to speak to the whole store which was an interesting experience. One of them I was notifying customers of an offer at the opticians and another I was asking a member of the health and beauty department to contact reception. Such a strange experience to hear your voice being broadcast to the whole supermarket but it was fun. I was there for about and hour before the section manager took me off to discuss hours. Unfortunately the hours aren't quite suitable for me. 6am starts which would mean getting up at 5am to set off. They said they'd pass my application back to a different section to see if there were later start times available. I'm still waiting on their phone call but if they haven't called within the next few days I'll ring them myself.

Last Sunday my friend and I went for a trip to Ingleton Falls (where most of the photos came from). It was a nice sunny day which made the walk quite tough. The walk itself was very nice. Plenty of big waterfalls to see on the way, the main attraction being Thornton Force. This was a huge one that you could clamber behind. It's such a great feeling to be standing behind such a force of nature. It makes you want to leap out through the falling water and into the pool below. Unfortunately that probably would have resulted in death or severe breakage of bones so I resisted the temptation. The area around the falls was also very nice to look at. The Yorkshire Dales are well known for their Limestone pavements and the stuff was everywhere. We visited a lot of towns and villages on our day out. In Skipton we stopped for a Chinese meal from a take-away located in the town centre. I had the best vegetable singapore chow mein - much needed fuel after a hard day's walking. Mike had a chicken chow mein which he ate from the comfort of a plastic bag (not really, and don't ask /laugh). Very good day out.

I think that's about all I can manage. It's not quite as grand a post as I'd imagined but I'm pretty happy with the outcome. Here's to another 100 posts! Long live Kuroneko Doumei!

Posted byHocchan at 6:59 pm 2 comments  

Sotsugyou Omedetou
30 August 2006

Feeling kind of sad today. The reason being that I've just remembered Ogawa Makoto (she's the one in the photo to the right) graduated from Morning Musume a few days ago (during the last night of the musical held on 27th August). Makoto was one of my favourite members and I will miss seeing her on Hello! Morning every Sunday. She was one of the most cheerful members of the group and could be relied upon to make everyone laugh. Throughout her 5 years in Morning Musume she entertained us brilliantly with her skit characters. I loved her ability to make Nakazawa Yuko and Iida Kaori burst into uncontrollable laughter with the Ogasaka Rokurou character. Her quirkiness really endeared her to the fans and I'm sure there are many more people who wish she wasn't going. I saw her graduation special of Hello! Morning last night and it was a bittersweet moment. It was nice to see that she had such a nice send off, surrounded by her friends, but at the same time it was sad to realise that it would be the last time she'd appear on that programme. I wish her all the best in studying English abroad and hope she comes back soon to wow us all with her new skills. Sotsugyou omedetou, Makoto.

Well, this is the last update before I reach my centenary post. I've decided that I will make a 'Top 5' of quotes from my previous entries. I have said some very 'interesting' comments in my time and it'll be a nice experience to read them all again. I do have a few other ideas for the update but I'll keep those secret until they're ready to be revealed. Can't hurt to have a little bit of suspense. /laugh So stay tuned, readers (those of you who bother to read this anyway), the next post is going to be the update of the century! (terms and conditions apply)

Posted byHocchan at 10:08 pm 0 comments  

Surusumi
29 August 2006

No phone call from Tesco as of yet. Yesterday was Bank Holiday Monday so I guess they couldn't call. They should call me by the end of tonight, if not then I don't think I've got the job. I'll post an update if and when I get an answer. I really would love to get this job though. I need to start saving for the trip to Japan next year and that's not exactly going to be cheap. There's also the rather more urgent matter of credit card debts that I need to pay off. Plus it would be nice to be able to buy things again like CDs, DVDs, books, etc. I've been holding back for nearly a year now, not allowing myself to get tempted into spending money. So please, Tesco, give me that job!

In the meantime I'm wondering what sort of celebration I should have for the upcoming 100th post. It's a big milestone and I'd like to commemorate it in some sort of fashion. Maybe I'll go through all of the entries and pick out some of the more interesting comments I made and compile them into a big list. Whatever I decide to do it's going to be the biggest update in history! I intend to make it a full page essay with pictures strewn all over the place. /laugh

Recently extended my Kuroneko Doumei empire onto MySpace. I'm not really too keen on that site at the moment, it has a lot of problems that need fixing. For one it gets a lot of "unexpected errors" when you try and do something simple like logging in. Another problem is that you can't disable the ads on your page (well strictly you could by messing with the codes but it's a violation of your agreement) and I find it makes it look ugly. Took me a while but I finally managed to make it look pretty decent in terms of layout. You can't edit the HTML coding too much but you can change the basic stuff like backgrounds. I'll give it a try for a couple of months or so and decide whether it shall stay or be deleted. For now you can take a look at the MySpace Kuroneko Doumei at: www.myspace.com/kuronekodoumei. You may wonder why there aren't any pictures of the real me, or even a passing reference but that's just how I'd like to keep it for now. I'm not comfortable with being so public on that site just yet. If I eventually make it permanent then I'll start revealing my true identity. I sound like I'm a serial killer in a quiet American suburb or something...bwahahaha! Where's my knife?

Posted byHocchan at 2:41 pm 0 comments  

Zettai Zetsumei Toshi
25 August 2006

Finally got an interview with Tesco after all this time. I was kind of surprised though since they had already sent me a rejection letter a few days before. They called me up and told me that they had some vacancies and would I like to come in for the next day. I was quite nervous about it because I haven't had much experience with interviews but I was determined to make the best effort I could. I may have overdone it with my suit and tie but it can't hurt to look smart. The questions they asked were rather annoying, textbook problems such as, "What would you describe as good customer service?" and the such. I thought I did pretty well on all of them. I got really lucky when they asked me, "What new skills have you learned recently?". I could feel myself laughing inside as I told them about my studying Japanese. I could really sell myself on that aspect. Hopefully I impressed them enough for them to give me a job. They said that they'd ring me back on Monday with a decision one way or the other. Here's hoping!

I've been levelling Ninja on FFXI recently and it's very tedious. Not only is it making me bankrupt but it's one annoying job to play. I can't wait to get it to level 37 and ditch it for good. I should also get White Mage out of the way too. I just want to get back to levelling my Paladin since I enjoy that so much. Can't wait to get to the AF armour stage. Also for the last few days everyone's been busy trying to raise a chocobo. It's been 3 days but my egg still hasn't hatched yet. I can't do much at the moment except take a look in on it from time to time. I hope it's going to be a lot more involving when the chick actually emerges from the egg. Until then I'll just have to keep an eye on it.

Posted byHocchan at 2:07 pm 3 comments  

Sou Da! We're Alive
16 August 2006

I was meant to post this yesterday only I didn't have any physical strength left to do so. I was struck down with Flu. Least I think it was Flu. I had terrible headache, dizziness, muscle pains and a fever. Definitely wasn't a normal cold, they don't feel so bad. I'm much better today though thanks to 3 sachets of 'Lemsip Max Strength'. That stuff works pretty fast and it's very tasty to drink. By tomorrow I think I'll be back to full health again. Thankfully it wasn't bird flu. /laugh

FFXII is getting really good. I've clocked up over 20 hours now and it still feels like I've got a long way to go until the end. I haven't played it this week (due to me forgetting my memory card after going round to a friend's house, and getting the flu) but I can't wait to get back to it again. I've got to the point where I've made Ashe (she's my favourite character) use a katana. She looks so damn cool! I wish my Hocchan used a katana like that in FFXI, it'd be awesome. Beautiful girl wielding a katana, can't beat it. /laugh One thing I will say about FFXII is that the boss fights are considerably harder than previous games. It's a good job you have 6 characters to use before you die or else I'd still be stuck on a few of the bosses. I've never fought any HNM on FFXI but I get a feeling it'd be like fighting one of the dragon bosses in FFXII. The sheer size of the thing is amazing and with the camera so close to the character, you get a superb sense of scale to the beast. I just love it, I want to play more!

Posted byHocchan at 9:07 pm 0 comments  

Kiss Me Goodbye
07 August 2006

Hurrah! My blackmai... gentle persuasion has worked. I guess I'll have to keep up my part of the bargain and write another entry. I'll employ my patented technique of 'random-writing' (otherwise known as rambling about whatever subject enters my head). In the famous words from 'Kenan and Kel', "Ah, here goes!!".

It's been a few weeks since the new family members moved in. It took a bit of getting used to at first but I think it's all working out pretty well now. Everyone gets along and the atmosphere is quite calm. It hasn't been as bad or scary as I imagined it would be. I probably get a little less privacy now than I did before but it's not too bad. I would still prefer to move out and get a place of my own soon though. It's not because I don't feel comfortable in the house, it's just something I think I would like to do. It'll help prepare me for the future years when I'll have to rely on myself more and more. For the first time in years I've actually believed that I can make it in this world. Now I have to take care and nurture this courage growing inside of me and one day, hopefully someday soon, I shall become the person I have longed to be.

With the dramas over for the time being I've had a lot more time to play games again. I can't remember if I wrote this down already but I recently went back to FFXI after a months absence. I currently levelling my Paladin and it's making a nice change from the usual melee affair I'm so used to. I would like to try and get some of those nice new merits for my Samurai but I really can't be bothered to get the 30-40,000 limit points needed. Maybe once I hid a rut with Paladin then I can go back to it. It feels very much like a transitional phase in the game at the moment. Lots of the people who I had grown so used to in the past have gone their seperate ways. It's not like it hasn't happened before though so I'm coping pretty well. I still see and talk to them on occasions.

I've had the chance to play the Japanese version of FFXII and I'm absolutely loving it. The graphics are even more astounding than FFX and border on 'Advent Children' quality. It fully deserves its 40/40 score in Famitsu magazine. Although I can't really understand too much of the story it's still a great game to play. The maps have an icon showing where you need to go next so it's hard to get lost. Plus the limited Japanese vocabulary I know is helping me to translate key parts of the text. I really can't wait to play the English language version when it gets released, though I really can wait to hear the voice dubbing for it. No doubt they'll mess it up...

Posted byHocchan at 1:31 am 0 comments  

Jankenpyon
04 August 2006

Tada! A brand-spanking new update for all you people out there. I'm not entirely sure what I'll be writing just yet, but whatever it is, it means that a certain someone (you know who you are) will need to update their blog. Bwahahahahahaha! Wonderful...

Lets see... since the whole World Cup event ended I've been watching a few Japanese dramas. First was 'Densha Otoko', a wonderful story about an otaku (probably best translated as nerd, geek) who falls in love with an attractive, young woman on a train. After he saves her from a drunken old man she sends him a pair of Hermes cups. After that it's a tale of how Densha (his nickname given to him by the users of the bulletin board) tries to make Hermes (nickname for the young woman) fall in love with him. This is no easy task, however, as otakus are looked down upon in Japanese society. The residents of the bulletin board, 2channel, all go about helping Densha woo Hermes. They give him advice on practically everything from fashion, to where to take her on a date, etc. Based on a novel of a true story (apparently) it's a very funny and heartwarming drama about love. I was pleasently surprised to find that Itoh Misaki played the part of Hermes. I very much enjoyed watching this drama series and I can't wait to see the special episode that is due for release very soon.

Next up came 'Lunch no Joou' (Lunch Queen). This drama was quite different to the usual affair as it centred mainly around food. Lots of delicious looking food. From pork cutlets to omurice, it all had your mouth watering as you watched each episode. The plot centred around a heroine named Natsumi who one day, while eating lunch, gets dragged out of her chair by a man (Kenichiro) she doesn't know. Eventually when they stop he explains that his Father is dying and he would like Natsumi to pretend to be his fiance. This is because he hasn't been home in a few years and would like to make his Dad happy before he passed away. At first Natsumi declines but she promptly gives in when the offer of a free lunch is given. When they make it to Kenichiro's house it turns out to be a small, family run restaurant. All is not well, however, as the family seems to have a problem with Kenichiro turning up out of the blue. Apparently he ran away with the store's money a few years ago and hasn't been back since. After much persuasion by Natsumi to let him return they agree, provided that Kenichiro pass a test. The test involved picking out the famous Demiglace sauce that is made by the Father. Needless to say he fails and does a runner once again with the cash. Feeling slightly guilty about what has happened Natsumi decides that she will stay and help in the restaurant until Kenichiro returns. I haven't quite finished this drama yet, there are still 2 episodes to be released. I almost enjoy this series as much as 'Densha Otoko'. It's not so much a love story as a tale of life and how you can change yourself for the better. It's very inspirational to watch.

Finally there was the last few episodes of 'Attention Please'. I felt that after the trainees went onto the OJT the series slowed down a bit. The early episodes had more of a fast, reckless pace about them which I feel the middle section lacked. The ending, however, provided a nice finale and close to the drama and I was pleased with how it turned out. All in all, a very enjoyable series to watch and Ueto Aya did a fantastic job of playing the headstrong, Misaki. Plus it also had the most catchy ending song ever. A cover of 'Pretty Woman' by Kimura Kaela. Not nearly as bad as that sounds it's very funky and deserves a listen, even if you don't like the original.

There we go, update complete. I've laid my cards on the table now. Lets see you match that! /laugh

Posted byHocchan at 7:57 pm 0 comments  

Jitsu
10 July 2006

Heh, it's been a long time since I wrote an update where I talked about my honest feelings. I guess that's why I started this blog in the first place. For anyone who reads this and feels like listening for awhile, here is the truth.

July is a month of vast change in my life. Probably as big as the change that happened when my Mother passed away 2 years ago. Those years have been incredibly tough. Somehow I managed to get to where I am right now though I'm not entirely content with how my life is right now. Something had to change, and change it did. My Father has decided to re-marry so it means that from this Tuesday I will have a new Step-Mother, along with 2 younger Step-Brothers. It's not a bad thing per se, just a little surprising. I'm not sure how I'll get on with them. They could be a great addition to the family or it'll end up being hell for me in the near future.

This big event has prompted me to seriously look at how I can change my sorry excuse for an existance. I'm currently thousands of pounds in debt with no way of repaying them at the moment. Soon I shall run out of money to pay the credit card bills. This really scares me. Thing is, I know exactly what I need to do in order to solve this problem - get a job. However, for me that thought is almost as frightening as being in debt. I admit to having very little social skills. The very thought of asking someone for a job terrifies me. Somehow though, these past few days have given that little bit of confidence I need to go out and find employment. It's not much but I plan on going to a recruitment agency to see about getting some sort of temporary work. It's not the best result ever but it'll give me some work experience and, more importantly, I'll get some money to pay the bills with. I just have to take that leap of faith and actually go.

With the new members of the family coming to live with us the house is starting to get cramped. I've been moved out of my small bedroom and into a larger one to share with the 2 kids. I've never shared a room in my life so it will be an interesting experience. For this reason I now have an urgency to move out of home. Maybe not permanantly just yet but soon. I thought this would also be a good opportunity to apply once again for university. I could start my degree course AND move out into student accomadation. That's 2 birds with one stone. Of course, achieving this is easier said than done but I may aswell try. I've contacted my old school for a reference and they are happy to provide one. Now the only trouble is the timing of the application. July is when everything goes into the clearing system so I can't actually apply for a specific course anymore. I have to search for universities that still have vacant places available and try to get in one of those. This means that I may not get into the course I wanted. I do have a plan though. I was thinking of writing directly to the heads of department for the subjects I wanted to do and try to convince them to let me join. I may be lacking in qualifications but if I present myself well I may just have chance. The only other option is to wait a little while and get an early application for 2007 entry, though that's not very ideal as it'd mean staying at home for another year. I think I'll go with the first option and see how it goes.

Well, there you have it. These are the things that were concerning me. They were constanly in my mind all the time and it just made me quite depressed. Hopefully now that I've written them all down here I can have a little bit of peace. Might help me actually make an effort to sort these things out too. I'm going to do it... I'M GOING TO DO IT!!

Posted byHocchan at 3:40 am 0 comments  

Shiroi Iro Wa Koibito No Iro
05 July 2006

At last, a post not associated with the World Cup!! (hurray, cheer) You're not escaping the Yoshizawa Hitomi photo overload though. /laugh

My current concern at the moment is regarding my university application. With the new school term starting in only a couple months time, I'm trying my best to get it done as quickly as possible. I'm going in to see my old teachers tomorrow morning so hopefully it'll only be a few more days before it's submitted. If I have to wait until next year I don't think I'll be able to survive. I have a real yearning to enter university and start a Japanese course. Even if my application is rejected by the university I'm going to hound them until I prove to them that I'll be a good student for them. I really want this course!

My Morning Musume addiction is still in effect. I've downloaded a lot of their songs so far and they've been great to listen to. Most of my hard disk space is being taken up with their concert videos. If I ever get any sort of spare cash I'm going to buy up some of their albums. Here's hoping!

Posted byHocchan at 7:14 pm 1 comments  

Instant Miso Soup
04 July 2006

Match 52 (25th June 2006): Portugal 1 - 0 Netherlands
Match 53 (26th June 2006): Italy 1 - 0 Australia
Match 54 (26th June 2006): Switzerland 0 - 0 Ukraine (Penalties: 0 - 3)
Match 55 (27th June 2006): Brazil 3 - 0 Ghana
Match 56 (27th June 2006): Spain 1 - 3 France
Match 57 (30th June 2006): Germany 1 - 1 Argentina (Penalties: 4 - 2)
Match 58 (30th June 2006): Italy 3 - 0 Ukraine
Match 59 (1st July 2006): England 0 - 0 Portugal (Penalties: 1 - 3) [GODDAAAAAAAMN!!]
Match 60 (1st July 2006): Brazil 0 - 1 France
Match 61 (4th July 2006): Germany 0 - 2 Italy

World Cup's almost finished now, just a few more matches to play. I hope Portugal lose, that cheating-piece-of-crap excuse for a team!

Posted byHocchan at 10:33 pm 0 comments  

Wish, Wash, Fish
25 June 2006

Match 41 (22nd June 2006): Czech Republic 0 - 2 Italy
Match 42 (22nd June 2006): Ghana 2 - 1 United States
Match 43 (22nd June 2006): Japan 1 - 4 Brazil (bummer...)
Match 44 (22nd June 2006): Croatia 2 - 2 Australia
Match 45 (23rd June 2006): Togo 0 - 2 France
Match 46 (23rd June 2006): Switzerland 2 - 0 South Korea
Match 47 (23rd June 2006): Saudi Arabia 0 - 1 Spain
Match 48 (23rd June 2006): Ukraine 1 - 0 Tunisia
Match 49 (24th June 2006): Germany 2 - 0 Sweden
Match 50 (24th June 2006): Argentina 2 - 1 Mexico
Match 51 (25th June 2006): England 1 - 0 Ecuador

Posted byHocchan at 6:00 pm 0 comments  

Ikimasshoi
21 June 2006

Match 30 (19th June 2006): Togo 0 - 2 Switzerland
Match 31 (19th June 2006): Spain 3 - 1 Tunisia
Match 32 (19th June 2006): Saudia Arabia 0 - 4 Ukraine
Match 33 (20th June 2006): Ecuador 0 - 3 Germany
Match 34 (20th June 2006): Costa Rica 1 - 2 Poland
Match 35 (20th June 2006): Sweden 2 - 2 England (Goddamn we should have won!!)
Match 36 (20th June 2006): Paraguay 2 - 0 Trinidad and Tobago
Match 37 (21st June 2006): Netherlands 0 - 0 Argentina
Match 38 (21st June 2006): Ivory Coast 3 - 2 Serbia and Montenegro
Match 39 (21st June 2006): Portugal 2 - 1 Mexico
Match 40 (21st June 2006): Iran 1 - 1 Angola

Terrible news about Michael Owen. I can't believe it's happened. He was on for less than a minute when he twisted his knee badly and had to be stretchered off the pitch. A scan today has revealed that he won't be able to play for at least 5 months. Now England are left with three strikers, one of which nobody seems to want to play (why bring him if you don't use him in a match?!). What a pickle...

Posted byHocchan at 10:08 pm 0 comments  

Furusato
18 June 2006

Match 24 (17th June 2006): Portugal 2 - 0 Iran
Match 25 (17th June 2006): Italy 1 - 1 United States (freaky game)
Match 26 (17th June 2006): Czech Republic 0 - 2 Ghana
Match 27 (18th June 2006): Brazil 2 - 0 Australia
Match 28 (18th June 2006): Japan 0 - 0 Croatia
Match 29 (18th June 2006): France 1 - 1 South Korea

Well... I hate to say it but I think Japan's aspirations of reaching the last 16 are over. The draw with Croatia today means that they'll need to beat Brazil by at least 2-3 goals and rely on Croatia beating Australia. And even then it'd need Croatia to only score one goal. This isn't entirely beyond the realms of reality but I'm not holding my breath...

Oh well, COME ON ENGLAND!!

Posted byHocchan at 11:18 am 0 comments  

Iroppoi Jirettai
17 June 2006

Match 18 (15th June 2006): Ecuador 3 - 0 Costa Rica
Match 19 (15th June 2006): England 2 - 0 Trinidad and Tobago
Match 20 (15th June 2006): Sweden 1 - 0 Paraguay
Match 21 (16th June 2006): Argentina 6 - 0 Serbia and Montenegro
Match 22 (16th June 2006): Netherlands 2 - 1 Ivory Coast
Match 23 (16th June 2006): Mexico 0 - 0 Angola

Posted byHocchan at 3:47 pm 0 comments  

Renai Revolution 21
14 June 2006

Match 11 (13th June 2006): Brazil 1 - 0 Croatia
Match 13 (13th June 2006): France 0 - 0 Switzerland
Match 14 (13th June 2006): South Korea 2 - 1 Togo
Match 15 (14th June 2006): Spain 4 - 0 Ukraine
Match 16 (14th June 2005): Tunisia 2 - 2 Saudi Arabia
Match 17 (14th June 2006): Germany 1 - 0 Poland

Posted byHocchan at 5:23 pm 0 comments  

Joshi Kashimashi Monogatari
13 June 2006

Match 6 (11th June 2006): Serbia and Montenegro 0 - 1 Netherlands
Match 7 (11th June 2006): Mexico 3 - 1 Iran
Match 8 (11th June 2006): Angola 0 - 1 Portugal
Match 9 (12th June 2006): Italy 2 - 0 Ghana
Match 10 (12th June 2006): United States 0 - 3 Czech Republic (Ha! USA lost)
Match 12 (12th June 2006): Australia 3 - 1 Japan (Grrrrrrrrrrrr!!!!!!!)

Goddamn it! Can't believe Japan lost to Australia. It was all going so well until the last 10 minutes when it all went to crap. You could tell it was coming as Japan played rubbish in the second half. It was similar to England's match but the difference being that England have a better defence than Japan. Right now it looks very doubtful that Japan will get out of the group stage unless a miracle happens.

PS. If you're wondering why match 11 is missing it's because it hasn't been played yet. The match numbers I have used are direct from FIFA's own website. Don't ask me why they aren't playing the matchs in the order they've numbered them.

Posted byHocchan at 11:27 am 0 comments  

Koi No Victory
11 June 2006

The World Cup is finally here! And what a start it's been with a 6 goal scoring frenzy in the opening match between the hosts, Germany, and Costa Rica. This was swiftly followed by an astonishing 0-0 draw between rank outsiders, Trinidad and Tobago, and Sweden. TRI have really captured the hearts of the World Cup fans with their strong determination to prove themselves worthy of being in the most prestigious football tournament in the world. I, for one, am supporting them as my third team (Japan being my first and England a very close second). It may be tough though as they have to play England next. Hopefully Sweden will lose their next match against Paraguay. /laugh

Match 1 (9th June 2006): Germany 4 - 2 Costa Rica
Match 2 (9th June 2006): Poland 0 - 2 Ecuador
Match 3 (10th June 2006): England 1 - 0 Paraguay
Match 4 (10th June 2006): Trinidad and Tobago 0 - 0 Sweden
Match 5 (10th June 2006): Argentina 2 - 1 Ivory Coast

Can't wait for tomorrow's match between Japan and Australia. GAMBARE NIPPON!!! NIPPON ICHI!!!

Posted byHocchan at 11:31 am 0 comments  

1 Litre of Tears - Episode 2
10 June 2006

Shioka asks Dr Mizuo for the MRI scans of Aya's brain so she may get a second opinion from a different hospital in the chance that there's been a mistake in the diagnosis. Fully determined not to accept the situation she purchases lots of books on the subject and also does lots of research on the internet at her workplace. At the moment Shioka is the only member of the family who knows the full facts but she's keeping them secret for the time being. It's hard to tell whether it's because she doesn't want to accept it yet or it's because she does want to break this devastating news to Aya. Either way you can really feel her pain and her torture as she tries to put on a cheerful face for everyone. This begins to take it's toll as we can see during one home visit to a family's home when she raises her voice in anger at the mother who doesn't seem to care about her children's diet.

At the basketball meeting the team that will be playing a practice match against another school that coming Sunday is announced. Aya makes it into the team, much to her surprise. Meanwhile in the biology club we find out in a passing comment that Asou once had an older brother who unfortunately died. However, the circumstances of his death are not revealed yet. From a flashback scene to a camping trip during Asou's childhood you can see that the brothers were really close.

Aya visits the hospital once again in order to get the wound on her chin cleaned before the upcoming basketball match and meets a young girl whose father is in a ward there. They play catch with a ball outside and Aya misses an easy catch. Seeing this the girl asks Aya if she has the same disease as her father and mentions that he had the same sort of wound on the chin. This causes Aya to become suspicious about her own illness.

Shioka discovers the name of the doctor who is at the forefront of research concerning Spinocerebellar Degeneration Disease and sets off one night to meet him. She pleads in vain for some sort of medicine or operation that could save Aya but the doctor tells her that she must face facts and begin to prepare for the tough times ahead. Despondent, Shioka heads back home to break the news to Mizuo who cannot seem to accept the news either. They decide to continue to keep the news a secret from Aya. Personally I felt they were wrong to do this but I can understand the painful decisions they were making.

Aya and Asou find a stray puppy in the park. As Asou explains the origins of the relationship between humans and dogs to Aya you can see that she is growing to like him more and more. One night after the basketball match Aya goes to feed the puppy and runs into Asou. It begins to rain and they decide to take the puppy back to Aya's home, even though they probably wouldn't be able to keep it due to the fact her family runs a food business. When they get back Asou gets introduced to the family and as a thank you for helping Aya on the entrance exam day they invite him to stay for dinner. They decide that they can keep the puppy and they name him Ganmo after Asou's suggestion. This is a really funny scene as Mizuo becomes all protective and tries to intimidate Asou. You can tell that Aya's parents only allowed them to keep the puppy because of Aya's illness.

After another visit to the hospital for a check up Aya runs into the little girl again. They go back to the girl's father's room and Aya is shocked to see the condition that he is in. He seems to be in the latter parts of the illness and can no longer speak so must use a board of kana to communicate with his daughter. This is a very tough scene to watch as you can't help but feel sorry for the little girl and her father. She's so young and yet she seems so cheerful despite her father's terrible health. This leads you to feel dread for Aya as you know that she will eventually be in the same position. As Aya walks back home with her mother she asks bluntly what exactly is the illness that she has. Shioka doesn't reply and keeps on walking as the episodes ends.

You can tell from this episode that Aya is getting closer and closer to finding out her disease, even though her parents are keeping it from her. In one hand you want her to find out so she can begin to prepare herself, but on the other hand you really don't want her to face the heartbreak of knowing the truth.

Posted byHocchan at 7:29 pm 0 comments  

Soyokaze Ni Yorisotte
08 June 2006

First of all let me apologise for the delay in the report for the second episode of "1 Tears of Tears", it's coming I promise! I've just been a little pre-occupied with other stuff at the moment. One of those being watching lots of videos on 'YouTube'. I mainly look for all the funny Japanese TV shows that people have uploaded. Recently I've been enjoying a lot of TV shows that 'Morning Musume' and 'SMAP' appear in. They make all manner of comedy programmes where they get up to the strangest of things, but all in a wholesome, family orientated manner. That's one thing I miss about TV over here in the UK, we've lost a great many of the great variety shows that used to bring families together around the TV. Now all we have are endless Big Brother series intermixed with the 2,583rd Strictly Pop X Factor Idol. I really wish I could get access to Japanese TV whenever I wanted, that'd be heaven! Anywho, if you're interested you can take a look at some of the favourite videos at: YouTube Profile. The 'Mechiake' ones featuring 'Morning Musume' are awesome, especially the "Bakajo" special.

Posted byHocchan at 7:31 am 0 comments  

1 Litre of Tears - Episode 1
02 June 2006

These are the words the episodes starts with. Roughly translated it means, "This is nothing special, it's just a record of a girl chosen by a special disease". We then cut to the inside of a school gym where there is a girls basketball match going on. Lots of people are cheering as the red team score in the last few seconds to win the match. It then changes scenes to an MRI scan lit up in a doctor's office. The male doctor, Mizuno, is talking to the mother about her daughter's disease; how it will affect her ability to walk, judge distances, and eventually talk. The atmosphere is very heavy at this point and the only sounds are the whiring of computer equipment in the background. This is a very dramatic start to the series and acts as a base from which Aya's story will be told.

March 2005, it is still dark outside as Aya opens the shutters on the family's Tofu shop. The whole family is up helping prepare the Tofu, all except Ako, who is still asleep upstairs. It is revealed that Aya has an entrance exam to Higashikou school on that day and her father, Mizuo, is fussing over her. Aya's mother, Shioka, asks Aya to pass her some Tofu. As Aya tries to place a piece of Tofu into a bowl she misses and the Tofu ends up on the floor. The whole family laughs it off but we as the viewer can't help but feel this is the beginning of the terrible time ahead.

Aya, her 2 sisters, Ako and Rika, and her brother, Hiroki are preparing to leave for school when Mizuo insists that they take a photo outside of the shop. Reluctantly they agree and a picture is taken. Everyone departs after and Aya is shown running down the street, leaping into the air as the scene freezes. The short title sequence is now shown of an unfolding piece of notepaper, teardrops revealing the words, "1 Rittoru no Namida".

We see Aya on the bus on her way to the entrance exam. She falls asleep due to staying up very late the night before and ends up missing her stop. We also see Asou at the entrance to the school as he turns away and leaves. He doesn't seem to have any intention of taking the exam. Aya wakes up to find she's going to be late. She gets off at the next stop and starts to run, panicking at the prospect of being late. A few steps into the run she trips and falls, spilling the contents of her bag onto the pavement. Quickly picking them up she sets off running again. We see Asou again, unlocking his bike which is parked upon a bridge next to countless others. We hear a crash as Aya once again stumbles and falls, pushing most of the bikes over. This time the fall is more serious and there appears to be a bad cut on her knee. As Aya gathers up her belongings it begins to rain quite heavily. She starts to hobble along when Asou pulls up alongside and tells her to get on. They make it to the school and Aya gets her knee patched up in the nurse's office. Asou gets up to leave but it stopped by the teacher coming in to inform them that the two can still take the exam, much to Asou's dismay. I liked the sequence as it shows Asou is a caring person, despite his cold exterior.

It turns to results day and we see that Aya and her friend, Mari, have passed. Aya's basketball senpai, Kawamoto, comes over to congratulate her and we hear that Aya has had a crush on him since 11. Cut to Asou's house and we learn that he has also passed. His parents congratulate him but he seems very distant. There appears to be some conflict in the family but it isn't revealed why yet.

On the first day of Higashikou we find out that Asou and Aya have been chosen to be class presidents, and as a result need to pick out a song for the choir competition coming up. They try to discuss this within the lass but they all seem to be uninterested. You really feel like slapping the lot of them at this point. The next day we see Aya running once again from her home on the way to school. This time, however, she trips and falls badly onto her chin. Her parents rush over and Shioka ends up taking Aya to hospital. While they are there Aya runs into Asou. There then follows a cute scene between them where Asou tells a few lies about him having an incurable disease and dating the nurses. Aya notices that quite a few doctors seem to know Asou and enquires why. He tells her that his father is a senior doctor there, which Aya takes to be another lie even though it's actually true.

Later on that day Aya is taken in to see Dr Mizuno where they conduct a few co-ordination tests. It seems that she has some troubles with them so they take her for an MRI scan of the brain. Shioka is informed that Aya has 'Spinocerebellar Degeneration Disease' for which there isn't a cure. Here Dr Mizuno tells Shioka about the details of the disease in a similar scene to the opening sequence. This heartbreaking moment is shown between scenes of Aya giving a very uplifting speech to the class in an attempt to get them to choose a song. This creates a very bittersweet ending to the episode. The heartwrenching moment occurs when we hear Aya saying that they've got lots of time and that taking the long route isn't a problem, while we as the viewer know this is simply not true. It almost seems cruel.

As a first episode it isn't drastically sad but it makes you want to keep watching to see how Aya, her family and her friends deal with the terrible disease. The cast do a great job of making you warm to them, even in just the one episode. Sawajiri Erika does a great job as Aya and you instantly feel close to her as a character. Her energetic demeanour and happy smile are very infectious and you have see that she affects all those around here.

Sorry for the very long synopsis but I wanted to get across the important moments. The next few should be shorter and more about my feelings about the events rather than just pure reporting.

Posted byHocchan at 10:15 pm 0 comments  

Just Being Alive Is Such A Lovely And Wonderful Thing
31 May 2006

I've decided. I'm going to re-watch the first 7 episodes of "1 Litre of Tears" again and then write about them individually on here. Since I've been so affected by this series I figured it'd be a good idea to really delve into the story and try to find out why that is. So beginning with the next post there will be an analysis of each episode after I've seen it.

Posted byHocchan at 10:32 pm 0 comments  

Sangatsu Kokonoka
30 May 2006

"Ichi Rittoru no Namida" (1 Litre of Tears) is as good, no better, than I could have hoped for. I'm "enjoying" watching this series, even through the tears, for it is a story filled with painfully sad scenes. As a consequence I'm feeling very melancholic this week. I get my emotions affected very easily by the things I watch. The last things to do this to me were "A Beautiful Life" and "Summer Snow", but none of those truly have the impact of this series. There is just something so unfair about having your life cut short. To me it encourages a lot of regret for things I should have done but never did. At times I become ashamed of myself for being so cowardly and not having the inner strength I wish I had. I hope by the end of this series I will have a more optimistic outlook on life, as this is how Aya lived her life. I will try.

Posted byHocchan at 9:28 pm 0 comments  

Attention Please
28 May 2006

Just because I'm kind of bored at the moment while I'm downloading the first episode of "1 Litre of Tears" I've decided to write some random stuff down in here. Not exactly sure what I'll write but I can just make it up as I go along. In fact I remember an entry in my old, handwritten journal that was just me trying to beat a personal page record by talking about completely trivial things. It was so much fun so I'm going to pay homage to it right here, right now with this entry.

Right now the Eagles in concert is on BBC1 and I'm just chilling out, listening to some pretty good music. I've never actually consciously liked their music but from what I've heard tonight it's quite comfortable on the ears. Anyway, I digress, I didn't want to talk about the Eagles, I wanted to talk about a new Japanese drama series that I'm watching at the moment. It's called "Attention Please" and stars Ueto Aya as a young woman training to become a cabin attendant. It's a very recent series which is still airing currently over in Japan and it seems to be popular. It's actually a remake of a 1970s drama series of the same name. I haven't seen that version, however, but I'm sure Ueto Aya's rendition of Misaki is just as good. She does her usual good job of acting very cute and sweet. I feel she's taken to this character a lot better than when she did Oka in "Ace wo Nerae". It just seems to fit her personality more. Some may say that this is the usual Japanese drama fair of rebellious girl becomes confident, upstanding citizen but in my opinion, if it isn't broken, don't fix it. The comedy moments are very well done and the touching moments are just in the right places to balance it out. I like the co-stars in this series very much and I think they do a great job in their supporting roles, particularly the part of Mikami sensei (played by Maya Miki). I have very high hopes for this series and I can't wait to watch the rest of it. Oh, and the cover of "Pretty Woman" by Kaela Kimura as an ending theme is genius!

Oh man, the current download speed is still only 27Kb/s. It's going to be a few hours yet until it finishes. I don't think I can physically type for that long. Hopefully the rate will pick up soon like it usually does when using Torrent. The thing is I really want to watch "1 Litre of Tears" as I've read some good things about it. It has been compared to "A Beautiful Life" in terms of pure, tear-jerking sadness. The story is based upon the real life diary of a girl diagnosed with an incurable disease at the age of 15. She wrote a diary so she could remember the memories for as long as she could before she died. I've tried to search for a translated version of the multi-million copy selling book released as a result of her diary but there doesn't appear to be one. I'm really praying that someone will translate it in the future as I'm sure the words she wrote can teach us all a great lesson about our own lives.

Posted byHocchan at 12:09 am 0 comments  

Gohan Desu Yo!
25 May 2006

Gah. This week has been quite the annoying one. I've been severely agitated for the past few days now for some unknown reason. I get really annoyed or angry about trivial little things and it's not doing my reputation any good. Hopefully it'll pass but maybe I just need to take it easy for a short time.

There has been some respite from the irritation, however, the major one being that I finally completed my Saotome set a couple of weeks ago. No more praying for Beaucedine runs and no more annoyance when it fails to drop once again. For the meantime I think I'll just lot on large currency. I do kind of need the money as I seem to be going slowly poor. I'll start lotting on Dragoon relic soon but it's not that urgent since I can't actually wear the vast majority of it yet anyway.

Posted byHocchan at 5:23 am 0 comments  

Everlasting Love
11 May 2006

As usual after a long absence I'm writing an uber update to make up for it. The main reason for me not writing much this time is due to the little matter of 'Treasures of Aht Urhgan'. I've been spending a lot of time enjoying the new expansion pack for 'FFXI'. It's certainly added a lot of new life to the game and I'm having lots of fun. In particular I'm enjoying the Assault and Besieged events they've added. The only downside to Assault is that if you don't have good people in your party it'll be very annoying to do. Besieged is getting better as the days go by. At first it was probably too easy but they've just done an update which hopefully will add some challenge to the event.

On the anime front I've streamlined my selected titles a little. My main series I'm watching is 'Suzumiya Haruhi no Yuuutsu' which is just getting better and better by each episode. I absolutely adore Haruhi and Mikuru is pretty cute too. The popularity of this anime seems to be getting bigger too, as can be seen by the amount of videos of the ending sequence available on 'YouTube'. The second series I'm viewing is 'Aa! Megami-sama 2nd Season'. I've only seen a couple of episodes at the moment but from what I've seen it's very much like the first season. I'm confident that it will develop to be as good, if not better than the previous season. Still watching 'Yakitate!! Japan' as each episode is released. Getting towards the end of the series now though which will be a bittersweet moment. I dropped 'Shuffle!' for now, and I'm considering dropping 'High School Girls' too. That series is a bit too ecchi. Don't get me wrong, nothing wrong with fanservice, but constantly flashing panties for no apparent reason does cheapen it a bit...

I've recently got hooked on 'We Love Katamari' after Mike bought it a few days ago. That game is just pure genius with it's crazy presentation and super catchy music. Much hilarity ensues when you build up your Katamari from the size of a shoe, to the size of a skyscraper, rolling up all myriads of things from cars and buses, to trees and whales. There simply is no limit to the amount of things you can roll up in that game. It's simply astounding. Katamaris? We certainly do love them.

Posted byHocchan at 10:48 am 0 comments