BE Positive!
31 March 2007
I've gone on a bit of a DVD buying spree this weekend. I picked up Initial D for £5.00 from the HMV sale. I was once again tempted by the season two box set of House but resisted buying it, just about. The only reason I bought Initial D was because I needed something to watch. The price was good and it was something that caught my eye whilst I was browsing the foreign films section. Being a film based on a Japanese manga I assumed that it was made by a Japanese film house but it's actually made by a Hong Kong crew. In fact it's directed by the two guys who did the Infernal Affairs trilogy. Having directors of such high calibre this film promised to be something spectacular. And in some ways it was. The action sequences, of which there were a lot, were well shot and backed up by a thumping soundtrack. The plot, however, wasn't quite so good. It's not that surprising considering it's an adaptation of a manga which spanned many chapters. My main gripe with the story was probably the ending. It felt too rushed and left more questions than answers. Having said that, the majority of the film was enjoyable. If you enjoy the manga or the anime then you'll probably like this movie version too. If cars racing down a mountain at high speed, drifting around the corners is not your thing, then you'd probably avoid this film. Thankfully I'm the sort who does like it. And because of that this film was a nice purchase, despite the lousy ending.
One film that I did see which has a great storyline was Road to Perdition. I'm so glad I bought it now, and even more glad that it was for £3.00. The acting by Tom Hanks (playing Michael Sullivan) was also excellent in this film. The story revolves around the terrible events that happen after Michael Sullivan son (also called Michael Sullivan) witnesses a brutal shoot-out in a warehouse. Their world then slowly begins to fall apart and Michael Snr. must fight to save his son's life, as well as his soul. The grim deterioration of their peaceful life is expertly filmed and directed by Sam Mendes. The way in which the relationship between Michael and his son begins to develop after the tragedy is also very well done. By the end of the film they finally come to an understanding, although it's perhaps too late. All in all, a gangster film that doesn't just focus on the shoot-outs.
Posted byHocchan at 8:45 pm 0 comments
Housekibako
30 March 2007
I bought a couple of films on DVD recently. I got Ong-Bak for £5 and Road to Perdition for £3, both from HMV. I bought Ong-Bak for a couple of reasons. One, I've been meaning to watch this film for a while but never got around to buying it until now and two, I saw Tony Jaa's more recent film, The Warrior King, and liked it a lot. Unfortunately for me the disc I bought appeared to be faulty. It would play normally until the 45th minute when it would inexplicably freeze up and refuse to do anything. The only way to sort it out was to eject the disc and reload it. I took it back today and got a new copy. Hopefully this one won't do the same thing. Whilst I was in the store I took a look at some of the other DVDs on sale. I saw the second season of House for £12! I was severely tempted to get it but I decided to wait a little more. I want to see if I can get the first season for the same price. I also Road to Perdition for £3 which I thought was a bargain so I bought it. It's one of those films that you wouldn't consider buying when it's full price. However, when it's this cheap there really no reason not to buy it.
I watched the whole of Ong-Bak last night despite the faulty disc. I had to skip a chapter or two in order to make it to the end of the film. You could see that the budget of this film wasn't quite as big as The Warrior King but since Ong-Bak was its predecessor it's not that surprising. The fight scenes aren't quite as numerous or as brutal (his enemies don't end up with broken limbs after every fight). In fact the overall feel of the film wasn't that dissimilar to that of a Jackie Chan production, especially the scene where he's running away from a group of thugs.
The plot is fairly straight forward as with most martial arts films. Tony Jaa's character, Ting, has been sent to retrieve the decapitated head of a Buddha statue from Bangkok. This leads him to be caught up in a world of a major gang boss. Unhappy that Ting is costing him millions of Baht he sets out to make him pay. Unfortunately for him Ting has unending determination to succeed in his mission and thwarts him every step of the way.
I liked this film. Probably not as much as TWK but it's still good. Even though the fights aren't as explosive or numerous they do have something new for Tony Jaa fans. A good demonstration of Muay Thai from an expert. The special features are also pretty good. Lots of extra footage and interviews with the film's stars. I'd give the whole thing an 8/10.
Posted byHocchan at 6:02 pm 0 comments
Sono Deai No Tame Ni
I watched the latest episode of Hello! Morning a couple of days ago. It's the programme's 7 year anniversary in April so they've decided to compile the best 100 clips from the show during that time. The viewers had all been invited to vote for their favourite scenes via the website. From the data submitted they then compiled the top 100. This week we had entries 100-51 in a short list form, and entries 50-31 were shown in full. The best thing is it allows me to enjoy having the old members back on the show. It was like a family reunion. It's just a shame that some of the girls weren't there. People such as Konno Asami, Ogawa Makoto, Abe Natsumi and Goto Maki. We did get most of the legendary members though - Nakazawa Yuko, Iida Kaori, Yasuda Kei and Yaguchi Mari were all there. The episode wasn't quite filled up with the 'best of' section. They still had their World Pucchi Game as usual, this time featuring the awesome Yanagisawa Shingo. He's been on Hello! Morning a few times previous, mostly memorably in the 'date' episode and the Christmas special a few years ago. His speciality act is imitating a policeman who speaks into his radio. He imitates the distorted voice of the radio using a cigarette packet and its plastic wrapping. Doesn't sound very funny in writing but it's a lot better when you actually see it. He also has a habit of being extremely upbeat and hyper throughout the show. I think he's a brilliant Japanese comedian.
After that segment we move onto the main part of the show. We have all the girls sitting on the Maido Arii set in a large semi-circle. Nakawa, Iida, Yasuda and Yaguchi have aged beautifully. I would even say they look prettier now than they were when they were still in Morning Musume. They have a more elegant presence about them now. After Ishikawa announces it's the 353rd show of Hello! Morning we move onto the ranking. Starting with 50th-41st we have classics such as Gomaki Pengin, the Yanagisawa Shingo 'date' with Maki, Hitomi and Risa, and Turn-dori Chicken. From 40th-31st we have the 'Kyuue' Tsuji Nozomi incident, the Niigaki and Kamei haunted house clip, and the famous Ishikawa crying episode. After the 31st ranked clip they decide to have a Buurabura Battle again. This game involves two of the girls being blindfolded and sat on chairs. They then dangle random objects on string above their heads and gradually lower them down. The girls usually freak out completely and scream their heads off. Including Yaguchi who, despite her claims of having matured, ends up as freaked out as her past self. The other members have a similar experience and it's all a great laugh.
The final part of the episode it taken up with footage of LinLin and JunJun meeting Morning Musume for the first time. They seemed very nervous, as expected, but they seemed to take it pretty well. From what I saw they'll fit in quite well with the members. After a meeting with Tsunku they go off to watch Morning Musume rehearse for their spring tour. They are asked to try and practise the dances from the seating area. They appear to pick up the moves fairly well. Tsunku has faith in them, and I'm beginning to see why. Gambatte, futari-tomo.
Posted byHocchan at 1:23 am 0 comments
Mirai No Taiyou
27 March 2007
It seems like 2007 is turning into a crap-tastic year. Some rather unwelcome news yesterday revealed that Kago Ai had formally had her contract with UFA terminated. This comes only a day after a photograph of her with a much older man was published in a weekly gossip magazine. It was also revealed that she had once again been caught smoking; the exact same crime she was suspended for a year ago. On top of all this the magazine reported that she had been seen spending a night with the man at an onsen (hot springs). After all these revelations it perhaps came as no surprise that UFA finally called it a day and let her go. The dream of her finally returning to the stage after a year of suspension is over. This news is particularly devastating to fans because only a few weeks earlier she had been interviewed by the same magazine that published the latest scandal. In this interview she had given the impression that she was looking forward to coming back to the limelight. Whether this was all lies is unknown. What we do know is that she no longer wishes to be an idol. Otherwise she would surely have been more careful with her activities. Had the year of suspension not taught her anything? I for one am very disappointed in her. If she had merely wanted to quit the music industry there are better and more dignified ways of doing it. I wish her all the best but I can't help but feel this was the biggest mistake Kago Ai has made. It surely cannot get any worse this year, can it...?
Posted byHocchan at 5:18 pm 0 comments
Haru Beautiful Everyday
25 March 2007
It's a glorious Sunday evening outside. The sun is shining down, the birds are chirping and the trees are swaying in the gentle breeze. With the temperature being so mild it's almost like summer. Such a shame then that I'm stuck sitting inside doing nothing. Nothing except to read the newspaper. Again. Honestly, I don't think that I've ever read the newspaper front to back in so much detail before. It has been quite educational though. I'm very up-to-date on current news affairs. I can tell you for instance how Gordon Brown's new budget will end up costing me an extra £200 pound in taxes every year. I could also tell you how 15 sailors and Royal Marines have been captured by Iranian forces. There's also the rather trivial news like David Cameron being asked to remove his new wind turbine from his house as it's been installed a couple of feet from where it should have been. What a numpty. Is that how you spell it? When I'm not reading the newspaper from cover to cover I do a little bit of budgeting. That is trying to work out how much I should portion out my salary (when I get it) between paying off debt and saving for Japan. I've become a sort of mini-Gordon Brown, except less miserable and less like Stalin. It's been rather fun. I've managed to work how much I can afford to spend each month on food and travel, and also how much I can stash away for Japan. I'm aiming to travel around October time which would give me 7-months to save. It all relies on me starting my job in April though. If I don't then I'll have to keep pushing back the schedule month by month until it eventually means I don't get to go until 2008. I could always starve myself...
Posted byHocchan at 5:06 pm 2 comments
Shanimuni Paradise
24 March 2007
(The following six entries were all written using pen and paper before being typed up on the computer. The dates and times for these entries are completely genuine and have not been altered to break the record. There is, however, some slight editing done to tidy up the grammar or make additional points.)
Damn it! I haven't had internet access for a few days now and it's agonising. I can't check my e-mail or update my blog. That's why I resorted to writing things down in a notepad instead. The reason why I don't have the internet I won't go into on here. Lets just say it's very troublesome and could take a little bit of time to sort out. It's made me realise how dependant on the internet you become though. I'm not sure I could live without having on-line access. Maybe that's one of the curses of living in this technological age - the over dependence on electronics. I'm sure the people who don't own computers or mobile phones have a lot less stress.
I think the worse thing is not being able to play Final Fantasy XI, daft as that sounds. The reason being that I only just got my Corsair to level 40 the previous night. I can now use Evoker's Roll and, most importantly, Quick Draw. This is an amazing ability that's a lot of fun to use and does a fair bit of damage as well. It has a one minute timer which means you can use it at least once or twice per battle. Depending on the card you use when firing the shot you'll inflict some sort of additional effect. Things such as sleep on a Light Card, or Dispel on a Dark Card. It's really a lot of fun and has put Corsair right back at the top of my 'fun jobs' list. I hope I can get back to the game soon so I can continue to experiment with the ability.
With all this free time on my hands I've been able to listen to Morning Musume's new album a lot. I'm very impressed with 'Sexy 8 Beat'. The overall feel of the album is very crisp and fresh sounding. The start of the first track, entitled 'Genki+', is reminiscent of an 80s song. As the beat builds into the main melody it changes into a very lively track similar in style to Europop. One of my favourite songs on the album simply because of it's catchy chorus and retro instrumentals. Some other songs of note are 'Haru Beautiful Everyday' and 'Shanimuni Paradise'. The former being a cheerful song that makes you think of a nice sunny day. The latter is similar to 'Genki+' in styling. It's probably even more like a Euro dance songs if anything. The continuous bass beat coupled with the chirpy vocals make it's a very upbeat song. The remaining songs are a mixture of their four previous singles and some new tracks. All the singles have already proved their pedigree and are well worth listening to again. The new songs are also a nice standard and fit into the album well. I don't think there's a single bad song on this album. The only thing that I'm a little disappointed with is it's running time. I think it would have been better if it had a couple more songs on it. At only 11 tracks it's not quite long enough. Despite that, I would still easily rate this album a 9/10.
Posted byHocchan at 7:56 pm 0 comments
Genki+
20 March 2007
Well, I saw it. I had to stay awake until 5am but I saw it. Surprisingly they didn't make it such a big feature of the announcement in the programme. It only took up the last 10 minutes. But what an important 10 minutes they were. First impressions of the new members is that JunJun seems to be more introverted. She doesn't seem to be able to speak Japanese so they needed to use a translator to communicate. Hopefully once she learns some Japanese she'll become a little bit more outgoing. Of course, most of the members were very quiet when they first joined so it's not so unusual. LinLin on the other hand really impressed me. Despite being a few years younger than JunJun she seems to be a lot more confident of herself. The time she has spent in H!P Eggs has done her good. Her Japanese is fairly basic but she seems to understand what people are saying. I've read a few articles about how she resembles Kimura Ayaka from Coconuts Musume and I have to agree. They could be sisters. The similarities are quite striking. LinLin is definitely my favourite of the two from what I've seen so far. I might even go as far as saying that this was actually a good idea by Tsunku. Maybe...
Before the whole announcement, a major section of the show was about Fujimoto Miki and Kamei Eri's little outing as part of the Hello Project Channel. I didn't have subtitles so I had to guess what the main theme was. From my understanding they were going around trying out different activities that had been suggested by viewers. Miki-sama would then rate them as good or bad. First of we had a spot of dominoes in the Hummer limousine they were being driven around in. This didn't go down very well as you can imagine. The dominoes kept toppling over when they went over any bumps in the road. Eventually after multiple failed attempts to get a long line going they gave up and moved onto the next activity. This was some sort of tennis mixed with Tai Chi. Miki seemed to have an easier time and managed to impress the teacher. She did however send the ball flying off into the distance of a couple of occasions /laugh. Eri on the other hand seem to struggle a little but managed to complete one of the difficult manoeuvres after a few attempts.
Next up came a very odd "sport". As Miki and Eri walk down a path in a local path they spot a white shirt on an ironing board in front of them. They are understandably confused as to what this household item would be doing in a park. Suddenly a man on a bike zooms past and "irons" the shirt on the board, complete with F1 Racing sound effects. Yes, you guessed it, this is the sport of "Extreme Ironing". Apparently boasting a world championship and several athletes, this extreme sport involves doing your ironing in the most inappropriate of of places. Places such as on top of a moving van, on a surfboard, while you're parachuting, etc. This whole segment was hilarious. The two guys who were instructing Miki and Eri seemed to be totally serious about their profession. Unfortunately Miki-sama was less than enthusiastic about the whole thing and failed them. She changed her mind shortly after, most probably out of sympathy /laugh.
The next part has got to be the funniest thing I've seen on Hello! Morning for awhile. The girls went to get some crepes from a street vendor and he agreed to let them make their own. As expected Miki managed to make hers without too much trouble. She liked to imitate the way the Ojii-san said the word 'Nama Kuriimu', emphasising it several times to hilarious effect. Once her crepe was completed she wasted no time in taking a big bite out of it. Then came the turn of Eri. Poor Eri, she doesn't seem to be quite as good as Miki when it comes to these tasks /laugh. Her crepe ended up too brittle and kept breaking more and more as she folded it up at the end. Then came the best bit! Miki told her to take a bite of it instead of picking pieces off with her hands, so she did. Because the whole thing was so brittle a little piece got stuck to her lip due to the cream inside the crepe. She kept trying to lick the piece off with her tongue but it kept making it worse. Eventually it ended stuck right below her nose /laugh. Absolutely the funniest thing ever.
After this the last part seemed a little bit of an anti-climax. It involved them going to a house where they had a mini sumo wrestling ring and little paper wrestlers. This section wasn't too interesting as it mainly involved talking. We did get to see Miki completely dominate the mini tournament with her wrestler, much to the dismay of her rival. After they'd finished they headed back to the studio to find a note waiting for them on the desks. Much to their surprised it turns out that Hello Project Channel is being axed with immediate effect /laugh. I guess this is because of the cut in the length of the show. Shame really, it was turning out to be pretty good. There is the possibility of a return to Maido Arii though. If that turns out to be true then I won't be too sad.
Oh dear, I seemed to have type too much again. This always happens when I'm talking about a certain topic in detail. Sorry!
Posted byHocchan at 4:17 am 0 comments
I'm Gonna Be
19 March 2007
Argh! This download for Sunday's Hello! Morning is taking too long! It's downloading at 100 kB/s at the moment which is pretty good for my connection. The only problem is that the file is 1.36 GB so it's taking a little while. Time remaining is around the 3 hours mark. Hurry up! I want to see the new members /sigh. Guess I'll just have to write something on here to pass the time.
We got the router problem sorted finally. A joint collaboration between me and my sister's boyfriend. Turns out that the network card on my sister's laptop was not installed properly. After re-installing it everything began to work as it was supposed to. The connection to the router is stable and annoyingly it has a better range than my USB adapter. Looks like I'll have to invest in a proper wireless network card so I don't have to be stuck in my room when using the internet. But the main thing is that I don't have to worry about it any more. That's one headache out of the way.
Morning Musume's 8th album - "Sexy 8 Beat" is being released on Wednesday 21st. I wish I had the money to order it right now but my funds are a little tied up. Going to have to wait until the 28th before I can buy it. I hope they still have some Limited Edition copies available by then. This lack of cash is also annoying because I've managed to find a copy of the Limited Edition version of their 6th album on eBay. It's bound to fetch a high price because they don't come up for sale often. I'm very tempted to make a bid for it as I know it'll be a while for another to show up. This one comes with the photo card AND the poster. Decisions decisions...
Posted byHocchan at 1:08 am 0 comments
Red Light Spells Danger
17 March 2007
Argh! Such a headache from trying to set up the wireless internet connection for my sister's laptop. I spent a good 2 hours messing around with settings and configurations before finally admitting defeat. The furthest I got was to get the wireless adapter to connect to the router. However, it still wouldn't connect to the internet and would occasionally disconnect. Getting it to reconnect was a real hit and miss affair (mainly misses). I really don't know why people would want to become technical support advisers, it'd make me want to commit suicide. I'm having no problems with my wireless adapter that came with the router. My guess is that the adapter made by Atheros and the router made by U.S. Robotics aren't communicating with each other properly. I tried to install the USR adapter onto the other laptop but it wouldn't run properly. Stupid thing. I'm starting to hate Windows Vista. Sure it looks fancy and everything but it can be a right pain in the arse trying to get it to do what you want.
Thankfully, the assaults went pretty well yesterday and we got 4/4 wins on Ilrusi Atoll's Golden Salvage (the first time we've won all attempts in one night). That puts me at 9,026 points for the zone which is about where I should be had we not lost so many previously. If we keep going with 4-5 people a time it'll be about another 2 weeks before I get 20,000 points. I'm praying we can keep this winning streak up. It'll be so nice to finally be rid of this awful area.
Posted byHocchan at 7:55 pm 0 comments
The Big One
16 March 2007
That letter this morning made me forget the things I was supposed to report today so I'm going to do that now. Firstly, the major piece of news (if you're a Morning Musume fan like me) is that two new members are going to be added this summer! There had not been any previous announcements regarding this by UFA or Tsunku so it was a bit surprising to say the least. As if this wasn't a big enough shock already it turns out that these two new members are Chinese. Understandably this has caused a fairly big reaction from fans around the world. From complete shock to anger and utter disbelief. For an all girl pop group that has been around for 10 years, and is considered one of Japan's premier institutions, to suddenly get two Chinese members out of the blue is major news. Personally I'm going to hold judgement until I see how they fit in and whether this is a permanent arrangement. I am very shocked however, and can see why many fans would be angry at this decision. Is it wrong to only want Japanese girls in a Japanese pop group? Will adding Chinese members really be so bad? And does the fans' anger merely translate to an undercurrent of racism? All these questions need to be considered.
The whole thing about the 8th generation auditions becomes clear though. When Tsunku said that there'd be 3-4 members joining and it ended up only being Mitsui Aika many thought it odd, myself included. Now we get the full story; there was another secret audition over in China at the same time. I thought that this was a little underhanded as all the previous auditions had been announced to the public and were televised each step of the way. Furthermore I'm not sure about the calibre of China's young singers. Obviously this news will take a little while to fully sink in. What's clear to see, if these members turn out to be permanent, is that Morning Musume will never be the same ever again. I have feelings of slight apprehension coupled with feelings of anticipation. The two members will have their television debut on this Sunday's Hello! Morning. We still don't know if they can speak Japanese yet. I have a feeling there are going to be a lot more viewers than normal. We shall see...
Second and not so big piece of news is that my replacement modem router has arrived. So far it looks like it's all fixed and there are no major problems. I'm using it now in fact. The one slight niggle I have is that when I move a couple of rooms away I can't seem to connect to the internet. I have no problems when I'm right next to the router. I'm looking into ways of possibly boosting the transmitter to increase the range. My sister's Vista is being a sod at the moment so I can't see if her laptop can connect with it yet. Going to test it out when she gets it fixed.
PS. I love that picture of Tanaka Reina. It's from her new photobook taken in Hawaii. And no, it's not just because her skirt is so short... >.>
Posted byHocchan at 9:04 pm 2 comments
Funky Monkey
Important breaking news! I've just received a letter from the Department for Work and Pensions. In the letter it reads,
"Thank you for attending the Interview for the above post. We are pleased to be able to offer you a place on our waiting list for Administrative Assistant".
I guess this means I got the job? It's a shame it doesn't offer me a position straight away but this is still good news. They say that whilst on the waiting list they'll hope to offer me a post within one year of the date of the letter. I really hope that they do. It'd be a bit disastrous if they didn't say anything for a whole year /laugh.
I couldn't quite believe it when I first read the letter. I woke up to find a brown envelope on my bedside table. I had a feeling it would be from the DWP since they always use brown envelopes. One thing worried me though. It was king of on the thin side... like there wasn't much to say. I turned it over and saw the return address. It was from the DWP as I'd thought. I nervously tore it open and plucked out the two sheets of A4 paper. Expecting the worst I began reading what was printed. Thankfully I didn't need to go jump off a cliff as I realised it was good news.
One thing's for certain, I must have done pretty well on the interview if they haven't sent me a rejection letter. So for that I'm really happy. And who knows, who's to say that I won't get another letter next week asking me to start in April or whatever? Frankly I can't wait. Even though I'm just on the waiting list, this has made my day.
Posted byHocchan at 10:59 am 4 comments
Kamehameha
14 March 2007
Feeling kind of depressed today. It all started on Monday night as usual. Only this time it's lasted a bit longer than it normally does. What am I talking about? If you read my post on 10th March you'll know. I suppose being depressed over this is better than being depressed over a rejection letter. The anxiousness is beginning to kick in and I'm dreading the mail every morning. I keep thinking back over the interview and picking faults about what I did or said. I'm really not very confident now. If a big envelope arrives in the next few days then I should have got it. Reason being that they'll usually send you a contract to sign if you're successful. Otherwise it'll only need one sheet of A4 for a rejection letter. I hope it's going to be good news. I'm not sure if I can handle being rejected after all this effort (I sound like McFly there). Only a few more days left before I find out I guess. I'll continue to pray my face off.
It's only just dawned on me how pretty Miyoshi Erika is. I've never really noticed her before in her previous appearances on Hello! Morning with fellow Biyuden member, Okada Yui. In last Sunday's episode however, she got some of the spotlight with the "reaction corner". It's the main reason I chose her to be the picture for this update. She's almost the same age as me, though she's a month or so my senior (my sempai!). I'll be looking out for her more now in Hello! Project programme appearances. Speaking of Hello! Project programmes, it's been revealed that Hello! Morning is being cut from an hour show to a measly 30 mins show. This is disastrous news! I know that it went through a bit of a slump as far as scripts went during the late part of 2006, but very recently it's been returning to the classic HaroMoni we all love. Damn you TV Tokyo! I suppose it's better than being cut altogether but still. I just hope condense all the good stuff to fit into the time slot. Because lets face it, you can't afford to have poor script writing when time is so short.
Posted byHocchan at 9:49 pm 0 comments
There's No Limit
12 March 2007
Before we start, I miss Ogawa Makoto! ; ; She's the one on the left in the picture. It's been over 6 months since she graduated but it still feels like it was only yesterday. When I watch back over the old clips of Morning Musume I remember just how funny she was. One of the most comedic members of the group for sure. I hope she's doing well in her English studies, and I hope she doesn't pick up too many stupid Americanisms.
Anyway, back to the news at hand. I had my job interview this morning. I turned up about 30 mins earlier than they had asked but was able to get interviewed almost right away. The reason being that a couple of people hadn't shown up for their appointments. Fine by me, less competition /laugh. I was taken up to the 3rd floor of the building and led to an office where a man and a woman sat behind a desk. They offered me a seat and told me to get comfortable. The explained that the interview will be about four main topics which I'd been informed of in the invitation letter. These were: Improving performance; Making the best use of resources; Engaging effectively with customers; and building constructive working relationships. Each of them took two of the topics and asked me to discuss them in turn. They would start of with a lead question related to the subject such as, "give an example of when you had to improve performance". Depending on what I answered they would then ask a series of more delving questions. After about 4-5 questions they would move onto the next topic.
Altogether it only took about 20 mins to complete the interview. I was pretty nervous at first but managed to overcome it after the first few minutes. I wasn't sure but I don't think I sat up straight enough. I did try to maintain eye contact when answering the questions. I had a couple of those awkward silent moments when I couldn't quite think of what to say. I hope that won't reflect too badly on my assessment. Overall, I would say that I did OK. I could have done a bit better though with my examples. I'm not very confident that I'll get an offer but I'm keeping my fingers crossed. I asked the guy who greeted me in the lobby how many vacancies there were and he said 30. That's a fairly large number so maybe I have a decent chance of getting one of them. Please God, let me get this job /pray.
Posted byHocchan at 2:31 pm 1 comments
Get Up! Rapper
11 March 2007
Ahem! Sorry about that last post. I was rather irritated as you can clearly see. However, swearing at an invisible audience seems to have calmed me down. Hopefully that will be the last you see that level of profanity on this blog. Now I have achieved a near Zen level of calmness I can once again resume normal service. Which is good because my interview is now only a couple of days away. The nerves are starting to kick in a little but I'm keeping focused. I'm going to start making some notes to take into the interview with me. This will make sure I put forward my strong points and impress the interviewers. I have to make sure I'm calm and composed when I walk into the room. Look them in the eyes and give clear, succinct answers. Avoid babbling on about meaningless topics but at the same time provide adequate information. I'm pinning all my hopes on this job and I won't fail! I know there's always the possibility that no matter how hard I try there'll be someone better than I am. However, thinking like that will just guarantee I don't succeed. You have to trust the belief in the faith! Saa... koi!
Posted byHocchan at 3:37 am 0 comments
Bullsh*t
10 March 2007
I apologise for the foul language which is to follow. If you're easily offended or do not want to read a page full of profanities, stop reading now.
I'm so f*cking pissed off right now. There aren't enough words to describe how angry I feel right now. We had our scheduled Assault run tonight and ended up only winning 1/4 of them. That's a possible 2,000 points down the drain. I should have been on 6,000+ points for the area tonight but I'm only on 3,800. What a pile of bollocks. It's all because they 'fixed' that little thing on the "Golden Salvage" assault where it made it simple to locate the right chest. Now you can't use that feature and it makes a right bloody pain to complete.
They would have to do this exactly when we move onto this area too. I just f*cking want my Amir Dirs, you tossers! It's going to drag on for sodding months now. Not to mention I'm going to lose so much EXP from dying so much on these tossing missions. We're stuck doing the early missions too because not all the people are the same rank. So it's either the pile of crap "Golden Salvage" or the equally bullshit "Lamia No. 13" mission, where I died in the first 5 minutes.
As if this bastarding shite wasn't enough, I'm getting less points when we do win. This makes it take even longer to get 20,000 points. Why the f*ck did they make it such a high number? It's so frigging frustrating!!! I can't f*cking stand these assaults. F*cking pile of shit! F*ck it all!
Posted byHocchan at 5:26 am 0 comments
Definitely Maybe
09 March 2007
First things first, I want to do a little rant about the word 'definite'. Why in the name of all things holy, unholy and swiss cheese does half the world's population seemingly not understand how to spell this word?!!? Everywhere I go on the internet I see people spelling it the retarded 'definate' way. WHY?! Surely it's not that hard to see that spelling it like that is wrong? What's annoying is that everyone and their extended family spells it like that. It tends to be more common with American speakers (figures...) but the Brits aren't exempt. I could probably forgive someone from Outer Mongolia spelling it wrong, but someone who's spoken English all their lives? Never. I really cannot stand it when I see this spelling error. It's such an easy word to remember so why can't people do it? Listen up all you simpletons, it's not big and it's most DEFINITELY not clever to spell it wrong, so don't do it! Get a frigging dictionary.
Now that that little issue has been taken care of, I can get onto the main news. I completed the initial upgrade of my mountain bike a couple of days ago. I received the new tires I'd ordered in the post on Wednesday (incredible considering I had only ordered them on Tuesday) and put them on. Unfortunately I'd forgotten how crappy my inner tubes were. Looks like I'll have to get some new ones later but for now they'll have to do. I took it out for a short ride around the town on Thursday morning to make sure everything was working OK. Changing from 1.95/2.1 inch front/rear tyre to 1.8/1.8 inch doesn't seem to have affected handling much. I can't really say for certain until until I get out onto some single track. Hopefully that won't be too long.
Finished watching 'Attack No.1' earlier. It was a great final episode. The evil, demon coach turns out to have a soul after all and Kozue manages to overcome her injury and make it onto the first team of the national squad. It made for a very nice 'feel good' ending to the series. A series which has surprised me a lot. Initially you would be forgiven for thinking this was another sports drama which followed a predictable episode structure. However, when the Fujimi volleyball team ending up losing at the finals with 5 episodes to go you knew it would be different. There were many surprised throughout the series and it made for entertaining viewing. Aya's performance in the role of Kozue really impressed me. More so than her similar role in 'Ace Wo Nerae'. Definitely a drama worth watching, even if you don't really like volleyball.
Posted byHocchan at 8:03 pm 0 comments
One Night Carnival
06 March 2007
I've been working on reviving my GT Arrowhead mountain bike this last week. I bought it back in 2000/2001 and upgraded it with some very nice new equipment. From the value of the components I'd added to the bike it had tripled in price. My friend and I would travel up to the Lake District and Scotland a few times over the next couple of years. We would drive up and camp the night in a tent and then go on a bike ride around the area in the morning. My favourite ride was probably the Ben Nevis one we did. The scenery around the Glen Coe area is truly awe inspiring.
Those trips only seemed like yesterday but it's already been over 5 years. I used to ride my bike to school everyday but once I'd left sixth form there was little motivation to ride again. And so my Arrowhead grew slightly neglected in the hallway. It was still only half complete in the upgrade process. I felt guilty about not riding it any more. However, this year it's different. With my small, modest income I now have the means to revive it back to it's former glory. I've started by replacing the tattered grips that came with the bike. Also installed some X-Lite bar plugs, replaced the seat post with an Easton EA50 I bought ages ago and fitted a new seat. I spent today polishing the dirt off the frame and forks. I'll clean the chain and the derailleurs tomorrow. Then once that's done I'll take it out for a ride to see what it feels like.
I've compiled quite a big shopping list of bits which I want to upgrade:
Shimano LX Hollowtech II chainset - £64.95 from Merlin Cycles;
Shimano XT front derailleur - £19.99 from Chain Reaction;
Shimano HG93 9-speed chain - £14.95 from Merlin Cycles;
Shimano XT rear V-Brakes - £19.99 from Chain Reaction;
Mavic XM317 Disc wheels with black rims, black spokes and XT disc hub - £53.00 from Merlin Cycles;
Shimano Deore mechanical front disc brake unit - £24.99 from Chain Reaction;
Shimano Deore RT61 disc rotor - £14.99 from Chain Reaction;
Shimano XT gear cable set - £7.99 from Chain Reaction;
Shimano XT brake cable set - £5.99 from Chain Reaction.
Total price: £226.84
It's surprisingly cheaper than I thought it'd be. I'll be getting a lot of high quality equipment for a good price. Even on my lousy £45 a week I could afford it all in a couple of months. Hopefully if I get my Administrative Assistant job I'll be able to change some of the stuff to higher quality pieces. After all £226.84 is going to be nothing when I'm earning £800 a month. I'm really, REALLY determined to do well on that interview now!! Bring on Monday!!
Posted byHocchan at 10:00 pm 1 comments
