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Haikatus

Sun, 22 Feb 2009 08:02:47 +0100

This year I haven’t posted on my blog as much as I would want. For this reason, I think I just had to post, even if it was to just say I’m still here and I’ll be back soon, probably in April after most of my school projects are handed in. And school has been the main reason why I am busier than before and not exactly how I used to be. I wish I had more time to do the things I like. I have a lot of things planned for the future, and like it or not, school is my top priority. While I’m on a short (possibly one month-long) hiatus, here’s a haiku to enjoy and interpret in the meantime.

River stops at rock
Rock takes time to erode,
then River keeps flowing.

Mood: Normal (tired)
Listening to: Phase by Breaking Benjamin
Today’s Lesson: "He that can have Patience, can have what he will" – Benjamin Franklin

(I will be back and posting more often soon. Until next time.)

I'm Back

Tue, 27 Jan 2009 23:58:58 +0100

It has been a long time since my last post here, and it was because I decided to take a one-month vacation to have time for other things (holidays, homework, etc). The new semester started rushed and loaded, and I found more things to keep me busier (and away from blogging). I wish I was back in the days when I had time to be bored, but that's the past and I can only hope this year is better than the last.

I have a few things planned for this and the next month. I am supposed to do one of those things this (or the next) weekend on the forum: a Scavenger Hunt. Also I’m working on another blog which is a special project at the moment, still in progress; I’ll give more details when it’s ready.

Here's a haiku I made after last summer someone told me I wrote "death-ish!" poetry. Though it was mostly a joke, I wrote this "hopeful" haiku.

The Sun comes out and
early birds rise to work for
a better future.

Mood: Relaxed (I already took the big test today)
Listening to: A Magnificent Journey by Denny Schneidemesser
Today’s Lesson: A quote by Robert A. Heinlein (writer of Red Planet and Starship Troopers): "Progress is made by lazy men looking for easier ways to do things" (That gives me hope I'll do something good)

Merry Christmas and Happy Listening

Wed, 24 Dec 2008 23:25:25 +0100

Merry Christmas to everyone! I’m posting this right before a party at my house begins. Today I’ll just leave two gifts under the Christmas post (and they are the presents I give myself for Christmas: songs). The first is a song for my friend ShinigamiNinja. I know he’ll like it, because even I did (and it’s already on my mp3 player and Windows music library). The song’s Pink Mammoth by Pelican, an instrumental post-metal track that got me into listening to more Pelican songs. The second is Lianna’s gift, Red Sky by Thrice, which she told me today she liked when I gave her a preview. It’s a great alternative rock song, of which I like the instrumental (and the Vitamin String Quartet Tribute version, which I also have on my mp3 player). The songs are also available at the In the Corner box on the sidebar. Also if anyone else wants a present from me, go ahead, ask me the one (song) you like or take one from the Christmas ~~tree~~ box.

Pink Mammoth by Pelican

Red Sky by Thrice

I hope everyone has a great Christmas tomorrow and that you don’t forget the true meaning of this day.

Audiosurf - Game Review

Tue, 16 Dec 2008 23:59:05 +0100

This weekend I gave myself the most awesome music video game ever for my pc as a gift. Although Audiosurf is not the first game in the genre and not the highest selling, it is one of the most popular, and greatest. It is "music racer," where you move a ship on a futuristic highway based on your music to collect colored blocks (known as traffic). The game has been compared to music games like Guitar Hero and Amplitude, but it’s different in that you don’t necessarily have to hit every block that comes in the way. In fact, it’s better to miss a few trying to achieve combos. If you try the game, you’ll see you’ll end up addicted to it (in a good non-WoW way).

Gameplay: 9/10 - The gameplay is very simple: trying to collect blocks and make clusters of three or more (the bigger they are, the higher the bonus) to score points. There are 5 colors: purple, blue, green, yellow and red, the hottest being worth more points than cooler colors and appearing more on intense parts of the songs. You can either use the mouse or the arrow keys to move the ship (I prefer the mouse, though the keys are more accurate). The ship’s speed and shape of the highway depend on the song you play from your pc. Low and slow songs are uphill (ship goes slow), while fast and loud sections of songs are downhill (ship goes very fast). Other elements of the songs like beat and riffs determine the curves, twists, bumps and tunnels (the most intense parts).

There’s a variety of characters to choose from (14 characters, three tiers: Easy, Pro and Elite). The Mono characters are the easiest to use, and the most popular; there’s only two colors (grey and colored) and you try to avoid grey traffic. Pointman characters let you catch blocks for later, Erasers lets you erase all blocks of the same color (to try and match other colors in big clusters), Pushers move blocks from lane, Vegas lets you shuffle the board, and in Double Vision and V Pro you control 2 ships (1 on the keys and 1 with the mouse), which allow for co-op with a friend. But if you just want to relax, listen to your music and enjoy the scenery, use Freeride mode.

Graphics: 8/10 - Simplistic, futuristic, and not extraordinary, but still cool to look at.

Sound: 10/10 - The audio is as excellent as your computer’s music library. The sound effects and menu music available go with the look too.

Re-playability: 10/10 - With 14 modes of gameplay, various high scores to beat and a limitless supply of music out there for you to play, Audiosurf has endless possibilities and will make you want to come back to it over and over again (especially every time you buy a new album or download a new song).

Overall: 9.25/10 Audiosurf is a great and fun game that you’ll probably never get tired off (maybe your fingers if you use the arrow keys). The game can be bought at the Steam website (I reccomend you try the demo first) for only $10, a great deal. It also comes with the Orange Box Soundtrack, making it more than worth its low price.

Here are some videos of me playing Audiosurf on Mono (easy tier) mode.

Tomorrow Comes Today by Gorillaz

Bat Country - Vitamin String Quartet (Tribute to Avenged Sevenfold)

Now there's no food to eat...

Thu, 04 Dec 2008 23:58:10 +0100

Sorry everyone for waiting a long time to post. These are the last weeks of school before the winter vacation, and teachers are not letting us rest. I’ll write two haikus today and will hopefully make some other poems soon.

Tree gives fruit to Bear
Bear grows and kills Tree, so now
there’s no fruit to eat.

Boys building snowmen
Using carrots mom gave them
Now there’s no dinner.

Mood: A little tired
Listening to: When I’m Gone by 3 Doors Down
Today’s Lesson: Somewhere in this darkness there’s a light that I can’t find, maybe it’s too far away, or maybe... I just need some more free time to look for it.

Thanks

Fri, 28 Nov 2008 23:59:03 +0100

I know Thanksgiving was yesterday, but why should we only give thanks for what we have on one day of the year? We should be thankful everyday and express gratitude for our life. Thanksgiving may be over, but there will be more days to come where you have the opportunity to help others in some way. I have taken some time to put up a List of 10 things I’m thankful for:

-living a healthy life.
-having a caring and loving family.
-having good and understanding friends.
-having delicious food to eat.
-having a house in which I can sleep in.
-having a brilliant mind and a huge imagination.
-being able to express myself.
-having the ability to listen and understand others.
-possessing technology that entertains me and helps me communicate with others that aren’t near.
-having the protection and care of God and the other divine deities.*

(I respect everyone's opinions and ideals. If you don't share my religious views, you can replace these words with that of your God or the thing or being you think created or protects you).

Mood: Relaxing and enjoying the free time
Listening to: To Know That You’re Alive by Kutless
Today’s Lesson: Be thankful for all that you have and the life that you're living, even if it's not exactly how you want it to be.

Four Haikus

Fri, 21 Nov 2008 18:03:40 +0100

I’m not an extraordinary poet or someone that writes poems all the time, but when I feel like it and have free time (or I have to write something for my English journals), I write short poems. Most of the short poems I write are haikus, my favorite type of poetry for being short and simple (no stressed-syllables or rhymes to worry about, like on limericks). If you never heard of haikus, they are three-line poems originated in Japan. The first and third lines have five syllables, while the second has seven. It’s supposed to have a connection between nature and human life. It rarely rhymes and is not supposed to, because the message and the way it’s presented are more important. And I always try to give some symbolism and lessons into my poetry. Here are my first attempts at haikus (written a year ago).

Plant that dries from drought
did not save water last night;
angry with itself.

Lizard walks on fire
Stopped to see the scenery
Lizard ends up burned.

Eating fat all night
Your body works as normal
Soon it will all stop.

A young sailor boy
boasted that he was the best;
ended lost at sea.

Tell me what you think of them. I'll be posting some more soon.

Excuse my procrastination if I don't make a post

Thu, 20 Nov 2008 01:15:55 +0100

I have been busy recently, and I feel like it’s my fault (it is, but the teachers’ "brilliant" ideas for holidays have to do with it too). Well, I wasted another holiday and now find myself doing the essay at the last minute. If only time could be bought (I hope it’s cheap) or re-used, then I could finally do at least half of the things I want to do in my life. I’ll be posting some of my haikus in the next few days, and should make myself write down the "What’s in the Playlist?" articles I have on my mind. I also have to write the game review on a certain game I found on the web weeks ago (no, it’s not the Mama Kills Animals game, that was just for laughs, fun and discussion). Now back to making my "modest proposal," (I'm trying to make it more outrageous than the original to no effect).

Mood: A little tense, but still staying calm and cool
Listening to: Pork and Beans by Weezer (came up and reminded me of the YouTube Live event this Saturday)
Today’s Lesson: Stop procrastinating! Or you’ll end sleeping later than usual (and for me, that’s past midnight).

Unite to Reunite Refugees with their families

Tue, 11 Nov 2008 03:20:00 +0100

We take a lot of things for granted. We live (relatively) normal lives, coming home to our families after a day of school or work, without anymore worries than an average person and with problems that could usually be solved with some of our effort. That’s not the case of the millions of refugees around the world who can’t return back to their homes and are usually separated from their families.

The lives of most refugees are ones of survival, of trying to fit in, of enduring constant discrimination, suffering and rejection, and sometimes even torture, abuse or imprisonment. Many refugees are forced to leave their home countries because of war or persecution; they just want to avoid problems and try to find a good place to live and be happy, but many of us either ignore or reject them. What I found most shocking is that about 50 percent of all refugees are children and teenagers, who can’t get a proper education or good living conditions, and who might get abducted, abused or recruited for military service. You never know if you might have to become a refugee in the future (maybe as a result of a natural disaster, ideological persecution or a rise in violence in your country), so why not try to be of some help now. Helping will not only make you feel better, it might allow someone else to regain the life they lost or reunite with their family members.

What can you do to help? Well there are various ways you can help. One simple way is to blog about it (if you have a blog or other site), like me. Thanks to Blogcatalog’s initiative, Bloggers Unite, I found out about this important issue, and accepted the challenge of writing something helpful for once. One blog can make a small difference, and if thousands of other bloggers join too, we can all make a big difference to raise awareness on the plight of refugees. If you don’t have a site or are a member of a forum, you could always use word-of-mouth to make others know about this problem that might affect any of us one day. I hope this article could have helped in some way or another. If you want to know more about refugees or want to help the organizations that provide assistance to them, below are some links that could help you change someone’s life. But most importantly, there’s one site called Refugees United, which is a special type of (somewhat anonymous) forum that helps refugees to find and stay in touch with family and friends.

Refugees United
http://www.refunite.org/
http://www.refunite.org/blog/

United States Committee for Refugees and Immigrant Children
http://www.refugees.org/

National Center for Refugee and Immigrant Children
http://uscri.refugees.org/site/PageNavigator/Childrens%20Center/NCRIC_Home

UK Refugee Services
http://www.redcross.org.uk/TLC.asp?id=81617

I will be less lazy: A Knight's Oath

Sun, 09 Nov 2008 08:42:25 +0100

I added an mp3 to the forum today (I finally got my lazy hands into doing it). The song's called A Knight's Oath, from Fire Emblem Blazing Sword. It was reccomended by purplefinch a few days ago (along with a list of her other favorte Fire Emblem songs). I hope you like it too (If the song doesn't load for you, listen to it in the fourm or download Quicktime).I'll probably post again later today or tomorrow, so check back soon. If you would like to reccomend your song to be featured on the site or forum, make a comment in the DISQUS box below.