April 2010 Entry

Normally I’d quickly brush off why the monthly posting is late, but this time there was a real reason for it. I purposely put it off. While I was gearing up to write this at the end of April, I came to a very cruddy weekend. It’s not that something horrible happened (nothing did so don’t worry). It was a weird time for me to be semi-reflective of a few things. I didn’t leave the house all weekend (Friday-Sunday) and I was actually at the house alone the majority of the time. I had a weird mix of being lonely, but not wanting to see anyone. I really don’t know how to properly explain it, but it wasn’t it wasn’t one of those “I need a friend” situations. It was more of the “I need a girlfriend” instances. I know I really don’t talk about something like this in these entries, but I didn’t want to be cryptic about it.

I wasn’t moping around or anything. I just felt a strange sensation of emptiness to the side and I knew what it was. It’s been a while since I had been in a relationship and I really do miss it. I’m not going to get into details about the facts of that 5 year drought. It’s not like I haven’t pursued anyone in that time span because I have and have not been successful. One of those years doesn’t count since I made it a point not to try for anyone for a full year and I achieved that.

That whole weekend wasn’t all bad. I kept myself entertained and found hidden bits of joy that actually made me smile and made my heart feel great. So to sum up the lateness of this April edition, I did not want to write an entry with a heavy heart. I felt if I did that this entry would not be in a positive light or enjoyable to read. I apologize for the lateness, but I hope you can understand why. Also, to those that wanted to do things over the weekend, but I refused to, this is why. Sure, it might have been the obvious answer to not feel lonely by hanging out with others, but I didn’t want to spread that negativity or be the clichéd stick in the mud. Also, I was being short with my answers to some people I was talking to online or just tried not communicating much because I felt I’d say something dumb/wrong/offensive. So more apologies to those that might have thought that to be weird/odd. I’m good now though. Cinco de Mayo helped.

We’re pretty much a week into May, but I’ll leave out any of the May stuff (like Cinco de Mayo) until the next entry (if I remember). And now, onto the news. Get a drink or snack ready because this will be a long one.

=====Work=====

Again, we’re still taking our mandatory 2 days off per pay period. From what I last heard, we’re trying to pay off a loan. Not sure what the loan was for, but…eh.

Here’s a stupid incident that happened at work. The identities of the people will be protected and be referred to as Man and Woman respectively. So it’s about 15 minutes into the work morning and I’m doing my work when Woman comes into work late and says “whose car is that in my parking spot?” Man, who also just came in late, replies with “sorry, Woman. I didn’t see your name on it.” A minute or two later, Man comes into my office to tell me something about the next day when Woman comes in and starts to gripe to Man about the parking spot. Before it started to escalate, I said “not in my office. Go argue somewhere else.” Woman replies with “I don’t care” and continues on with Man. I start saying something along the lines of “if you aren’t going to leave, then I am.” At that point I slammed my office door while leaving and muttering about how ridiculous this is. So I go elsewhere and wander around and come back 10+ minutes later when they were leaving my office. There goes 10+ minutes of work for me. Had I been caught not working, I would’ve probably gotten in trouble. I really just wanted to start my own argument and just flat out yelled “instead of b!tching about a stupid parking spot, how about you shut up and get to work since you’re both already 15 minutes late.” And if that wouldn’t work, I really would’ve just started yelling “get the f*ck out of my office” loud enough for everyone in the building to hear. I remember that day being very blah after that.

I was supposed to go on a shoot for Fiesta (supermarket, not the celebratory meaning). I was only going to be a grip and not film anything. I was fine with that. I was feeling the need to be able to escape the office for a couple days. And if you haven’t noticed, those last 4 sentences all started with “I was.” I was pulled off of it. Not only that, but I was pulled from shipping that I do every Monday and I was asked to come in on Friday instead of take my mandatory day off. The reason for all of this was because of a project involving Vertical Streaming. Vertical Streaming has been uploading and hosting our videos online for us. They were also to put up Q&A for each video, but they haven’t been great at that as there were many errors found over the course of time. I probably had mentioned it before, but I took the load of correcting all of those. And since I was the one doing that, I was needed to do another large load of them. I think it was 110 Q&As that I had to put up (10 x 110 = 1100 individual questions and answers). The owner wanted it done ASAP and that’s why I was pulled off of everything. He thought it would take all week. That sucked because for once I actually had plans on that Friday I was going to take off. So what was supposedly a week project took me 2 and a half days. Everyone was surprised because I was saying with confidence when I would be done with it. My motivation was to have that Friday off still and I was given it. Unfortunately, all that hard work led to all my plans being cancelled that Friday and that was the start of the cruddy weekend mentioned at the beginning of this entry.

=====Video Games=====

I didn’t buy any new games in April. I did end up beating “Castlevania: Rondo of Blood.” That was a nice accomplishment. There was DLC for “Mega Man 10” that I purchased and beat. Some of that leaked into May…darn Mega Man Killers. I played a little more of my WiiWare version of Phoenix Wright when I felt like it to kill time. I also downloaded and beat “Mega Man 4” when that was available. So there are no reviews this month.

I did purchase 2 Classic Controller Pros for my Wii. I bought a white one and a black one. For those that play a lot of Virtual Console games on their Wii, I highly recommend getting this. While the normal Classic Controller was fine, the Pro is just better ergonomically mainly because of the grips added towards the bottom of the controller (similar to a Playstation controller). It just feels better while playing those old school games.

For May, I have “Super Mario Galaxy 2” and the last Phoenix Wright WiiWare title to buy. I would like to get “Trauma Team” also, but it comes out too close to Mario Galaxy 2. When Mario Galaxy 2 comes out, my gaming time will be devoted to that.

=====Video Projects=====

First off, the Pink Martini contest video was scrapped. While I liked my idea and concept, I couldn’t find anyone that was either not busy, willing to act how I needed them to, or be in front of the camera. And it is true that I might not have asked a few people, I just knew their answer ahead of time and didn’t bother. Oh well.

Other videos that are pretty much scrapped is the Good Work video. I really don’t have the motivation to want to make that work. If it was planned ahead of time, I could make it work, but I just don’t see it happening with this. Who knows, I might be utterly bored one day and attempt to do it, but right now I don’t want to. Same goes with the flag football video. At the least, I’ll splice the clips together and cut out a lot of dead air to make it look cool to watch. Adding fancy stuff to it…don’t know.

As far other video projects, I was on a roll this month. Don’t know what it was, but I was knocking out videos one after the other. I did the Music Video, made a highlight video of the wedding RFM did (will talk more of it later), the Food Day outing we had, and the outtakes video from the music video. These videos will be at the end of the entry. I also finished the XMAS Bash video. It’s not ready for broadcast, but I have all the clips cut and spliced the way I want them. Later on, I will go back and add things to it to make it cooler/fancier. Obviously, my previous software issues have been cleared.

The music video shoot was a learning experience. I don’t want to speak for everyone, but I think we were all in for more than what we originally thought. I understand that the participants had been busy leading up to that day so preparation time was not the same for everyone. Our original timeline of how this would flow was obliterated by a few hours due to multiple takes and preparations and note giving on individual performances. I myself wasn’t perfect either. I took 4 takes total. The photoshoot was probably the easiest part for everyone as it was less stressful and more relaxed. We all had nerves when we took our turns to film our parts.

There was always a line I did not want to cross and that was from it being a fun to being work. I didn’t want to be a tyrannical director and constantly giving notes and demanding better performances. The thing is that I want their best performances. That’s going to make them look good and the entire end product great. So…I want these to be fun, but I am going to be expecting a bit of professionalism from participants. I want them to be prepared, I want them to look good, and I want them to have fun while being able to do their parts seriously. My attitude for future projects will take a different approach for the benefit of those being involved. That might mean me being stricter about things, but I’d like to avoid wasting mine and others’ time. I can go on longer about this (trust me), but I’ll spare the readers their time. Bottom line would be if you want to be involved in these then you need to be serious about it so that you yourself and the overall product will turn out great.

=====Royal Flush Media=====

The website for Royal Flush Media is up and running now! Tell your family and friends.

http://rfmphotovideo.com/

The wedding video I did for Natalie was very simple. While I have been criticized about it (being told what brides want/expect), those words didn’t matter to me. Really, how could one bride say what any other bride wants? What Natalie had said about it was passed along to me and she loved it. THAT is all that mattered to me. The person I did this for was the one that loved it. I could tell she showed her family it because the views for that video jumped to 50 in a matter of hours. Sure it was simple, but they weren’t expecting anything at all. I am very proud of the video I made and I am glad Natalie loves it.

Here’s to more RFM work in the future.

=====2010 Formal=====

We’re ready. Still a few more backstage tweaks to work out, but we will soon reveal the information to the masses for them to know what’s coming to them.

=====Fanfics=====

While I might have been swamped at times at work, there are also stints of almost nothing to do. I’ve mentioned it before, but a lot of the things I do are automated. I set those up and then do non-automated work on another computer. That computer is also where I check my email, check a few select sites, and talk with friends if they’re on and not busy. The past month when I hit those patches of nothing to do, I found myself reading my fanfics I wrote back in 2003 and 2005. They were dedicated to BabyVoX as they were my main interests in Korean music at the time. I wrote 2 fanfics using myself and them as the main characters.

“Rurouni Angels” was about Arnell and Lee HeeJin as a couple. HeeJin was always my favorite in BabyVoX. Reading it over again, this could easily have been translated to a daily drama. There was love, conflict, action, twists and turns…the typical things you could expect from a drama. It went on for 100 chapters and I read all of them. As I read them, I could recall what I might have actually been doing in my life at the time. I would think about my frame of mind as I was writing these and why I wrote what I did. Other times, I just found myself caught up in the story and anticipating what was going to happen. Sure, I knew what was going to happen, but the journey there was interesting. There were a lot of key points where I thought to myself “I can’t believe I wrote that.” When I read the vows I wrote for each character, I was really touched. The one I wrote for myself, I think those words would still ring true to whoever I end up marrying. I would just have to take out the part about “being a fan,” ha. I love the vows I wrote for HeeJin to say. One line made me laugh and actually tear up a little and it was “I didn’t need to marry a smart man.” Funny that the next line describes that others laughed at that line also. I think that when I get married, if my future wife took those exact words I wrote for HeeJin and used them as her vow without me knowing she was going to do that, I would eternally love her.

“Somehow, Somewhere” was more action oriented. It centered on Arnell and EunJin together as a couple and the troubles they had to endure from a vengeful ex-friend and his lover. Tons of action. I could see it being an action-drama. It was only 25 episodes long, but it was a good lengthy read, especially the last few episodes. I remember when I wrote this and posted them, my online friends questioned why my character was with EunJin and not HeeJin and wondered where the HeeJin character was. They questioned the motives of a lot of the characters (some being actual online friends) and all the mysteries that were not revealed until the latter part of the story. Needless to say, none of them were disappointed when everything unraveled itself. One thing to note was that this was at the height of my TechTV fandom. Adam Sessler and Morgan Webb were characters in it and there were a few mentions of Leo LaPorte in there. As I read this one, in my head I knew what was going to happen. From reading each introduction, I knew what was going to happen, but not all the little details. That was apparent when I was reading the fight sequences. The dialogue was more familiar in my head than the fight sequences. Again, I was touched with a few things I wrote. Most of that was because of the HeeJin character.

While reading both of these, I tried to picture these scenes in my head. It was a bit tough since I had not seen or heard much from these characters in a long time. I was also listening to BabyVoX’s music through the majority of reading these to kind of at least have their voices/personalities in my head. It’s hard for me to recommend these to read to just anyone. I had an audience back then and that was other BabyVoX fans. Me recommending reading these comes with a note. That note would be to picture other people in these roles as opposed to who they really are. It would be easier to do that with “Somehow, Somewhere.” “Rurouni Angels” has some real references to BabyVoX’s activities as well as a few other Korean idols that are involved in the story. For those that want to give it a try, you can find them on this forum:

http://s2.zetaboards.com/KoreanMusicRealm/forum/462/

You don’t have to register to read them. You can view them as a guest. There are some other members’ comments sprinkled about in some of them. You can also find a couple of short stories I wrote there also.

=====Final Thoughts=====

I’ve been meaning to say this for a while now, but I always forgot. I seem to be getting more spam emails this year than I ever have before. Don’t know why. I also get a lot of spam posts on my Rated CBAM review site. For some reason, most of those are in my review on “Mario & Sonic At The Olympic Games.” My guess for why that is because of the names of Mario and Sonic. Anyways, boo spam. The only spam I like comes in a can.

I’m 100 episodes into “You Are My Destiny.” Since it’s already May, I’m 105 episodes in as of writing this. I like.

Oh, how I enjoy Salsa classes. I keep saying it, but it’s such a great stress reliever. And it’s fun. And I get to dance with girls. And Lucia is HOT!

Another nice stress reliever is randomly going to a karaoke bar with friends. Going unplanned and staying longer than originally thinking was awesome. That also marked the first time I ever sang an SNSD song at karaoke, Genie. Adding to that being so awesome was the fact that the actual MV was playing along with Romanized letters for those that can’t read Korean like me. So nice we sang it twice and it was awesome. Very memorable night. And yes, that’s the most I’m mentioning about SNSD in this post. Shocking.

I know I have mentioned this before, but I really miss Cheon Sang Ji Hee – The Grace. CSJH was one really big reason I got back into the Kpop scene. It’s weird for some people to hear that I like them more than SNSD (especially since they’re my current favorite) and that I like them more than BabyVoX (my past favorite). The only Asian music artist they haven’t surpassed in me liking is BoA. So that makes CSJH my second favorite. There are a lot of reasons why I like them. KT members had a chance to read about why in a 4 part blog post I made dedicated to them. Those really curious can still read about it (while they have the chance, uh-oh). I have to remember to copy those posts for myself to keep. But those that know how much I like SNSD now and how much I love BabyVoX back then should have a small understanding that for CSJH to be put above them that there is something special about them to me. If you check my iPod, only CSJH and BoA are outside of the normal categories I have set up. Me mentioning them every now and then in posts also shows how much I’ve missed them. Another fact would be that they’re still the picture at the bottom of this blog. They have been away from the music scene for a couple years now. There are rumors of them coming back this year, but I’ll wait for some official word before getting excited.

Anyways, there were a couple of videos that a user had posted on YouTube of some of their performances. I mentioned one during the February entry. I found it again, but the user won’t allow embedding for it. Fortunately, the user posted up another performance for their song “Girlfriends/Girl Talk.” It just happens to be my favorite performance of that song. This came along during the cruddy weekend mentioned earlier. See, there were sprinkles of delight during that weekend. Anyways, I was smiling the whole time when I watched this performance. It was great to see them dance and sing. I love their voices. When Lina (my favorite) hit her high notes, she gave me goose bumps. I was a very happy man during that 3-4 minutes.

And that happy note brings us to the end of the April entry of this continuing blog. In Microsoft Word, that was 6 pages to read through. Now we come to the part of the entry that I’m sure readers enjoy the most; the videos. 4 video projects and the CSJH performance I mentioned earlier. Please enjoy them.

Miss You (MV) - 04.03.10

The Wedding of Natalie and Erich - 03.13.10

The King of Iron Chef Tournament - Kite Flying - 04.25.10

Miss You (MV) - Outtakes and BTS

CSJH The Grace - Girlfriend (Chattering of The Girls) - 07.14.07

Thank you for reading this April edition of “Just Like Coffee That Has Cooled…” Take care. Mmbyeeeee.

March 2010 Entry

Apologies for the lateness.

=====New Things=====

The new computer is working out nicely. Although I am now having some software issues. I have pumped out a couple of videos (see at the end), but I’ve been at a standstill during the last weeks of March. Once I get that cleared, a few projects will be done.

=====Work=====

Still in the red apparently. So the mandatory taking 2 days off every pay period is still in effect. It’s nice to take a break though. Work drama and stress is ridiculous.

We recently had an impromptu meeting about taking out the trash. Yes…trash. There are only 5 of us that are assigned to it. There were more on that list, but those workers were released at different intervals over the years (editors). So the 5 of us consists of myself, shipping, and 3 editors. That excludes management (4) and the women (2, 1 in management already counted). Anyways, due to the ever changing rotation of whose turn it is to take out the trash, we got confused and no one took it out Wednesday (trash days are Wednesday and Friday). The list used still had a recently fired worker scheduled to do it. Certain people griped and others got frustrated. The simple solution was that someone on Wednesday should have said something, but that didn’t happen. Meeting was held and we were told that no one was complaining about it. To that I said “obviously someone is or else we wouldn’t be talking right now.” In my head I was thinking that it’s just trash. How about we spend our time worrying about important issues…like how to bring more money into the company? Yeah, money.

=====Video Games=====

Mega Man 10 (Review)

Ace Attorney Investigations: Miles Edgeworth (Review)

It took me a while to finish the Edgeworth game. This month was pretty busy. I also downloaded “Castlevania: Rondo of Blood” on Virtual Console. It’s the Japanese version, but there’s not much in Japanese anyways. That game is kicking my butt. All Castlevanias are tough anyways. I’ll try to take that down. Other than that, I’m playing through the second Phoenix Wright on WiiWare slowly. That will keep my occupied until May rolls in with games I want to buy. I also got the Club Nintendo exclusive WiiWare title “Grill-Off With Ultra Hand.” It’s…interesting. I’ll review that in the next week or so.

=====Video Projects=====

Only 2 were completed. Again, software issues came up. One was from the KT Smoothie event and the other was from a birthday karaoke event. Those will be posted at the end of the post.

The Music Video project will finally be shot this weekend (04.03.10). Getting excited for it. I hope my software issues will be resolved soon so I can work on post production ASAP.

The Pink Martini contest is still there. I haven’t done anything beyond what I thought of a month ago. Heck, I forgot the song I was going to use, ha. I’ll throw my idea at someone soon to get feedback on it to see if it will fly.

I also want to do an Ideal World Cup (more details another time).

I have been working on the XMAS Bash video. It’s…interesting to say the least. Media Trip 2 has been held off, but I think I’ll work on that in the summer. Have to ask for pictures from people for that and those people are busy. The Flag Football video should be easy to put together. The hard part would be if I do anything fancy with it like adding graphics and commentary. The Good Work project…I’m thinking of scrapping. I have my reasons. To me, it would be the hardest and most time consuming to work on at this time. We shall see, but that one most likely will get scrapped.

=====Royal Flush Media=====

Part of why this month has been busy is because of Royal Flush Media. We did our first wedding not too long ago. It was a nice small ceremony on a pier with the sun setting in the background. The bride was very laid-back or as she put it…easy. She really didn’t care what we took pictures of and filmed. She was only concerned with a few things in particular like getting shots of her getting ready, pictures of her and the groom separately, a photo guest book (instead of the usual sign in), and…that might have been it. We had free reign pretty much. I have personal critiques of what I filmed after watching it over, but they originally didn’t want video and now they have it (free). Doing an outdoor wedding did pose problems. The sun caused lighting issues and the wind was being too windy. Unfortunately, a lot of wind was picked up on the wireless mic I had on the minister. By the way, funniest minister ever, ha.

And there was a bride-to-be there also and she was interested in our services. She wants to see the results of our work at this wedding to decide. Her wedding is in September in Austin. So that would be interesting if we got that job. I gave her a business card and hopefully she’ll consider hiring us.

We actually had another job that same night asked of us last minute. My Salsa teacher asked to come to a Samba event and film it. Couldn’t do it obviously. But her knowing that we do video opened up the door for future projects with her. She is interested in putting a video reel together to advertise and such and possibly do a photoshoot with her team of dancers. She got even more interested after our last class since I actually brought my cameras to film the class. Once she sees it, I hope it pushes her to wanting us to do what she wants in a more definitive direction.

Also, another student at the Salsa class is interested in RFM possibly doing her sister’s wedding. I actually showed her some footage from the wedding we just did and she loves the setting. Her sister is also doing a small wedding and it’s supposed to be at the beach, but she might try to get her to do it at the location we did ours at. I just need to get her the information of where that was and we’ll see what’s up with that in the future.

=====SNSD=====

The group recently released a repackaged album title “Run Devil Run.” It includes 3 new tracks (one a different version) and comes with a mini poster along with it. Yes, I ordered it. Should be in soon. I wonder who I will get on the poster…

*I received the album the day of typing this and the poster inside was of Jessica!*

I like their new concept. It’s a nice darker image than what they normally portray. I do question the timing of them doing this. Yes, it was teased at the end of their last music video. It just seems that they rushed this out rather quickly. They only promoted “Oh!” for 2 months (maybe). They could’ve at least used that for another month before giving the audience something new. I’m just being picky about it. I appreciate that they’re giving their fans more.

I’m still watching “We Got Married.” 80 episodes in. Man…dramas are crazy.

=====Wrestlemania XXVI=====

Went with a couple of friends to watch this at a BW3. Ah, nothing like a live crowd cheering and booing, ha. I really love the production that goes into these PPVs. It amazes me at times. I wonder how much they spend on the sets…

Some of the matches were blah, but I knew that in advance. Unfortunatley, a lot of my predictions were incorrect, ha. I think I was right on only 4 of them. Thankfully I’m not a betting man.

The Bret VS Vince match was a little drawn out and more of a story than a match. Understandable since Bret isn’t in wrestling shape. It was great to see him put the sharpshooter on Vince though.

Edge VS Jericho was a good match. Jericho countering the Spear with the Code Breaker was so awesome. I think I jumped in excitement for that. I did want Edge to win, but I can see that these 2 can keep a good rivalry going for a few more months with Edge chasing the title. The Spear off the announcers’ table at the end was sick. Good ending there.

HBK VS The Undertaker…wow. I knew how the match was going to end, but the journey leading to that ending was well done. Honestly, I was very quiet during that match. I did jump and yell during a few key moments, but I was caught up in the fact that it was Shawn Michaels’ last match. I still couldn’t believe that.

His farwell speech on RAW the next night was touching. I admit that I teared up listening to it. When he told his wife and kids that “daddy's coming home” I couldn’t help but feel for him. This guy has been a wrestler for almost as long as I’ve been alive. He’s been my all time favorite wrestler ever since I’ve been watching. The fact that he won’t be performing anymore is still a shock. For someone like him to put his body through so much for so many years, he deserves to hang up his boots and just enjoy life now with his family. I’m sure he’ll come on the shows for appearances, but we won’t see him wrestling great matches anymore. Shawn Michaels, you will be missed.

=====Final Thoughts=====

I finally received my 2009 XMAS BoA DVD. It was nice. I don’t think that’s a surprise that I like what she does. Her 7^th Japanese album is really good. That’s been making a normal rotation of being heard at least once a day. I’m curious about her 6^th Korean album that she’s supposed to release this year. It’s just been a while since she’s done any Korean stuff. I’m sure it’ll be good though.

Salsa is fun. It’s a good stress reliever and it’s a nice different activity to get into. And I get to meet interesting people. Our Salsa teacher is awesome. I do wish that we have a nice flux of people taking the class. We’ve had one big class this month that had 15-20 people total, but the last few times were less than 5 people. The latest class was fun and hilarious. A lot of joking around helped us have fun and made time go by so quickly. It might have been because there were cameras on that everyone was a little more giddy and loose. Figured it would’ve worked the other way around, but oh well. It was great.

Again, I feel like I’m forgetting something. I guess that’s how it is since this is a monthly thing. Although I’ve been doing it that way for a few years now, but I guess it still surprises me. Anyways, time to end with a batch of videos for you to enjoy.

KT Smoothie-Milk Shake Cook-Off - Trailer

A King's Feast (Karaoke Highlights) - 03.20.10

SNSD - Run Devil Run - MV

Thank you for reading this March edition of “Just Like Coffee That Has Cooled…” Take care. Mmbyeeeee.

February 2010 Entry

February is over.

=====New Things=====

I finally got my new computer. Don't ask for specs. I wouldn't know them off the top of my head anyways. To give you an idea of how much of an improvement it is over my previous one, here's the example I use all the time. The last project I did (which I will show towards the end of this entry) took 2 hours to export after I completed the editing. With the same project on the new computer, it only took 11 minutes to export. Such a great and significant difference.

I'll be able to produce more videos as they come and I'll be able to catch up on projects I've put to the side. Even though I've had the new computer for a couple weeks now, I haven't tried to make any videos because I just wanted to make sure it functions well and that I transferred/installed the things I needed from the older one. Once I'm ready, I will format the old one and give it to my parents to do whatever with it.

=====Work=====

This was probably the busiest work month I've had that I can remember. There were so many things I HAD to do. Other than the normal things like capturing videos, making DVDs, checking documents, making full-length previews, and a few other things, I had other things dumped on me. I had to correct all of these Q&A programs that we had another company put for us online. ALL of them were messed up and most of them consisted of spacing errors. For example:

B. Confined spaces (correct)

B.Confined Spaces (incorrect)

All because of that missing space and the capitalized "S" is what made the second B incorrect even though the words are the same. So I had the task of fixing all of those errors. I was supposed to get help, but others were busy with other projects to help. I was peeved about that at first because it was a lot to do. Then and now I have to input the Q&A myself since we told the company we're working with that they've been screwing up too much on such a simple task.

We also had a meeting recently to discuss our money issues...again. We laid off an editor and we're all taking hour/pay cuts...again. I got mad during the meeting and actually yelled and cussed about things that are still a constant problem that never gets fixed or gets pushed aside even though others agree it's a problem. I really dislike our meetings. I feel too many jokes are being made during a serious situation and too many people interrupt or throw in their 2 cents while other people are trying to make a point. It's...ridiculous.

Anyways, we all have to take a day off every week. Again, I'll use this as an opportunity to take care of stuff or just to relax. I'll only worry about the company situation if we get rid of anyone else from here on. Everyone is pretty much important now to get rid of.

=====Video Games=====

No More Heroes 2: Desperate Struggle - click

This was a slow month of games for me. The next few months will be as well. I beat No More Heroes 2 and the WiiWare version of the first Phoenix Wright (will probably review all 3 together). I've been playing the Miles Edgeworth game, but I've had to really find time to put into it. I'm only on the third case since it came out. Mega Man 10 will be out in the beginning of March and that will put the Edgeworth game to the side since Mega Man 10 would be less time consuming. Expect that for the next review.

The next main game time frame I have is in May when Mario Galaxy 2 comes out. Trauma Team also comes out, but I might have to drop that title. The third Phoenix Wright title will also be released on WiiWare and I'll get that and put that to the side just like I'm doing now with the second one.

Before I had mentioned about trying to do reviews for GoNintendo. Silly me realized that they have always had reader submitted reviews and that I could've just done that instead of sending a long winded email. I guess I was thinking my reviews would serve as features on the site rather than just normal reader submitted ones. Oh well.

=====2010 Formal=====

More things are shaping up. Music is being taken care of, we know the deal for the food, decorations and tables are being worked on, activities are being tweeked...

We'll be making a couple of trips to the studio to make sure of things and test things out as we move closer and closer to the date.

=====Video Projects=====

The Music Video & Photo Shoot project is still having details hammered out. The estimated date to do this is April 3rd and it will probably happen at my house. Not having a place to do this is what will kill this project. Otherwise, I'm pretty much ready for it to happen. The song we ended up picking is m-flo's "Miss You."

Another video project that will happen is actually for a contest. Pink Martini is asking for fans to make a music video for them using a select song from their latest album. Right now I have a simple music video idea in mind, but I'll have to run it by who I will ask to participate. Details in the following link.

Pink Martini Music Video Contest - click

With the new computer, I will eventually get to the projects I've put to the side. There's "Good Work," "Media Trip 2," XMAS Bash Quiz Show, and the Super Bowl Flag Football video. I was thinking to do the quiz show first, but my mind kept thinking and wanted to do more than just cut to different angles. I'll have to think more before starting that. If anything, I might do the Media Trip video first since it's not a long video. Then there's any other events that come up that I can put to video etc etc etc.

=====SNSD=====

Yay.

Okay. So I like being on Soshified. I've been watching "You Are My Destiny" from there and I'm a little over 50 episodes in. I've also reached the quota of posts to start downloading their subtitled videos. It's great to have high quality videos. So I'm downloading those and replacing my ripped videos. It's good. I received the pins I ordered and have been wearing them whenever I go out.

I finally got my copy of "Oh!" I forgot that it came with a random photocard. Mine came with Sunny. Such a nice surprise.

=====Ending=====

I'm thinking to maybe get some people together to watch Wrestlemania this year. The card is shaping up to be really good. HBK vs Undertaker: The Rematch - Career vs The Streak...that is more than enough. Bret Hart vs Vince McMahon is also more than enough. Edge vs Jericho for the World Title is just the icing on the cake. Those 3 matches are plenty of reason for me to want to watch the event.

Went to a bridal expo. Even though we would like to have had been able to get some work, it was mainly to see how other places price their services. One personal positive is that I was able to figure out what and where to rent what I'll be wearing to the Formal.

Been taking Salsa classes over at SoundBox for the past month. It's pretty fun. It's also a nice stress reliever in the middle of the week. I look forward to those classes every week.

Still waiting for my copy of BoA's 7th album to come in. I ordered her 2009 XMAS DVD so I'll have that coming in also.

Earlier this month, I saw an old performance from CSJH. They were singing their debut song "Too Good." I couldn't help but smile the whole time I was watching it. It had just been a while since I had seen anything from them since they haven't been doing work as a group. It was one of those "everything is alright" moments and it reminded me of how much I love that group. I do miss them and I wish they performed together again. Unfortunately, I can't find that video anymore, but I'll at least post the music video of it. It still is one of my favorite songs to this day.

And now to end this entry with videos like I have been doing for a while now.

Lion Dancing (part 1)

Lion Dancing (part 2)

The Women of KT - Beautiful Restriction

CSJH - Too Good - MV

Thank you for reading. Take care. Mmbyeeeee.

January 2010 Entry

1 month has passed already in 2010. Let’s see what I can recall.

======New Things=====

I ordered the m-flo Cosmicolor concert DVD. It was from 2007, but I never saw it. Seeing clips from it made me want to see it more. So I got that as a Christmas gift for myself and it came in. It was such a fun concert. I was watching it while I was a little ill and it perked me up in no time.

I also ordered some magic stuff from an online shop in Europe. I’d like to get more, but some of the cooler things are a little expensive. Maybe later on. But one of the things I got was an illusion ring. So now I have bling on my hand.

Another thing I got was a camera. Not another HD, just a standard one. It’s…not a conventional one, but I’ll keep that a secret for now. I did get these 3 orders all on the same day. 3 orders from three different countries coming at the same time was pretty cool though.

I also got myself an EdgeRated-R leather cuff. Another late Christmas present for myself. I’ve only worn it once so far. Unfortunately, it’s a little big for my wrist. I guess I’ll only be wearing it sparingly.

I finally ordered a new PC. Was suggested to get this one machine through Gateway. It was a good machine for a good price. Unfortunately, it was sold out. Even the next model up was sold out. The next one up was a few extra hundred dollars and didn’t seem worth it. I was shown a similar machine through Dell and I checked it out. Placed an order for it and it should be here the day after Valentine’s Day/Chinese New Year. Can’t wait for that to come in.

=====Work=====

I got really mad during a couple work days. I apologized to those I yelled and cussed at. It was misdirected anger (still work anger) plus my body wasn’t feeling all too great so I was just in a blah mood during that time.

We had an all staff meeting recently. They were trying to reinforce some ground rules. All I have to say is if they don’t enforce it OR they don’t hold the rules the same for everyone, then that’s messed up. Most of the ground rules were directed towards the younger generation of workers though. I’m pretty sure we’re going to keep doing the same things anyways.

I think they’re giving me more responsibilities now. Either that or they’re depending on me more for things especially since management and the owner realize what an asset I am. That’s not to be braggadocios, but the work I do there is spoken highly of and almost never criticized. Might have backed myself into a wall with that if I ever screw up on something. We all make mistakes so I’m entitled to make a few.

=====Video Games=====

Castlevania The Adventure ReBirth – click

Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: The Crystal Bearers – click

Muscle March – click

I also beat “No More Heroes 2: Desperate Struggle” earlier today. I’ll write that review this coming week and posted up on Rated CBAM!

Last entry I mentioned trying to get my reviews shown on GoNintendo. I wrote an email to the main guy there giving him my background on my reviews and what I’ve done. I haven’t received any type of reply from him since then. If I don’t hear anything in a month’s time, I’ll email him again. If nothing comes from that, that’s it. At least I tried.

By the way, the upcoming No More Heroes 2 review will be my 92^nd review. Can’t believe I’ve done that many. My first review was “Donkey Konga” and that was in 2004. I actually have some extra down time at work since I can automate all my machines, so I went through and read all of my reviews before I started Rated CBAM! Man, my style changed over time. I think it’s for the better. A good evolution.

=====2010 Formal=====

I think this topic will come in all my posts until it actually happens. The date has been set and place has been found. July 10^th at SoundBox Studios. It was fun going to check out some places. Some day, we will rent out that awesome $45,000 ballroom to use for our crazy friends, ha. Seriously, I am very glad we decided on a place. Thank you to Wyldstyl for letting us use your studio for the event. They gave us an unbeatable price with no restrictions on what we can do. That was probably the best part of the deal since other places had rules and regulations. Now, we are free to decorate the place as we please and we don’t have to have mandatory catering. All we need to do now is figure out the details of the event and then start spreading the word to our friends. I can’t wait.

=====Music Video and Photo Shoot Project=====

Doing a project with friends. I won’t get into all the boring details, but we’re basically going to shoot a simple music video and have a photo shoot going on for it as if it was for an album jacket. And to get to the point, we’re going to mimic this video with whatever song we end up choosing.

The projected date to do this is early March. We’ll see how it progresses.

By the way, we had a Media Trip recently. I have footage from that, but I haven’t made a video from the footage and photos taken that day. When I get the new PC, that might be one of the first things I work on.

=====SNSD=====

I know I said in previous posts that I’m finding less to say about this group. That WAS true. Now that they’re second album is out and they’re promoting it, I think I’ll have stuff to say and share about them.

They’re new album is titled “Oh!” The album came out at the end of January as well as the music video. They had their comeback stage for it already and it was great. The title song is not bad. At first I wasn’t too high on it, but I think watching the MV and seeing the comeback stage helped. I need to see the song sometimes to like it I suppose.

I did pre-order the album along with BoA’s latest Japanese album (which comes out in February). I have mentioned the largest international fan site for SNSD, Soshified, in previous entries. Well, guess who is part of Soshified now? The day I saw my copy of their second album shipped, something in me made me go check out Soshified and I ended up becoming a member. I don’t know if I’ll be active, but if anything, I might participate in some of their bigger benefits and plans they do for the group. The latest benefit they’re doing is in honor of SooYoung’s upcoming birthday. They’re gathering donations for the Haiti disaster and are donating the funds to the Red Cross in her name. I’ll have to read more about it so I can help out. But yeah, I’m officially part of Soshified now.

Another SNSD related thing, I’ve started to watch the drama Yoona was in, “You Are My Destiny.” I’ve never really sat down and watched a drama before, but this one is not bad. Each episode is around half an hour and I think that helps. I think I lose interest with the ones that are an hour long. This came from me watching a lot of “We Got Married” the last few months. Once I watched all the couples I wanted to (or could find videos for), I felt like I needed to keep watching something. So that’s when I started watching “You Are My Destiny.” I’m only at episode 15 or 178. Thankfully Soshified has all the episodes because I was having trouble finding places that had all of them available. I did skip a few episodes when I couldn’t find them anywhere, but now I’m filling in those holes thanks to Soshified.

Oh yeah, I did actually buy some stuff from Soshified, pins. I bought 9, one with a quote from each member. I just figure it would be a nice extra accessory to wear when I feel like it.

By the way…there’s a 3^rd. She came in out of nowhere. She’s “berry good, yo.” But yeah…Sunny has made it up the ranks as my 3^rd favorite. It’s weird, my initial ranking for these girls has changed over a year. Sunny was at the bottom 3^rd and now she’s in the top 3^rd, ha. I also find it weird/coincidental that my top 3 have similar favorite numbers; 12 (Sunny), 22 (Jessica), and 32 (HyoYeon).

=====Ending=====

I think that’s it. I always feel like I forget to mention something every time I make a post. Oh well. Here are a few things I’m anticipating for next month:

Getting my new PC. Can’t wait to see it in action and work on some bigger videos.

Trying out the new camera for the first time. Hope it turns out well.

SNSD’s activities for their 2^nd album.

BoA’s 7^th Japanese single. That girl never disappoints me.

More Formal plans to be hammered out.

More video project and photo shoot plans to be hammered out.

I just read that Edge returned at the Royal Rumble and won the rumble match! Whoo!

And on that happy note, I’ll bring things to a close. The following videos are:

Barry VS T-Mac

Media Trip 2 (balloon ride)

SNSD – Oh! (MV)

Thank you for reading. Take care. Mmbyeeeee.

December 2009 Entry

Obviously this is late. It was late last year also. My apologies. It has been a busy end of the year and things have been slowing down and have been…well, somewhat boring. It’s not that I miss the stress of some of things going on brought. It was just kind of nice HAVING to do stuff as opposed to trying to do something because I’m bored. Anyways, I’ll give a nice summary of 2009 as well as what happened during December. Prepare for a ton of text to read.

=====Beginning of 2009=====
This was a very trying time. I could not remember another time I was emotional on edge for things happening. Yes, I’m still not revealing it online because it is very personal. The few that know it know that things are better now and that there hasn’t been anything to worry about for a while. I still worry because in my head…I don’t think it would take much for this to happen again. Here’s hoping it doesn’t.

=====Video Games=====
Latest reviews (not including January):
Resident Evil: The Darkside Chronicles - click
Silent Hill: Shattered Memories - click
The Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks - click

Despite being very busy the latter part of 2009, it seems I was able to find some break time to play all these games and beat them. Sure, the last 2 happened in early January, but that’s still 2 games at the beginning of the new year already. Phoenix Wright is coming out for WiiWare (1st game on the 11th) and that will hold me over until No More Heroes 2 is out. This will be my 3rd time playing through the Phoenix Wright games (as the other 2 titles come out over the next few months) and I know I won’t remember everything to do or that happens and that’s fine with me. That’s how it was the 2nd time around so it should be the same the 3rd time.

Last year I contemplated shutting down my game review blog. It’s still open. It’s odd. Most of my friends don’t play or own a Wii and I know that some have DSs, but I know they’re more into their PC games or PS3s. So I always feel odd reviewing a game that I know not that many people I know will be playing. I don’t even get many readers on the review blog itself. I have thought maybe to submit my reviews to GoNintendo. I’ve been following them for at least 2 years now and I think my reviews could be featured there. I do wonder how they would feel about a lurker all of a sudden becoming a contributor. The current reviewers they have I’m sure are at least members of the forum, but I haven’t signed up for it. I feel a little bad about that since they’re my main source for Nintendo news. I emailed RMC on the 11th so I’m just waiting for a response and see how they handle it from there.

=====Work=====
I have minimal complaints about work. 2009’s work year wasn’t that bad. Layoffs and cutbacks did suck, but that was the nature of the beast and it happened all over the country. We’re at a comfortable position, but I do wonder why we aren’t doing any better. I would hope that we start getting more work this year. I don’t mind it being stagnant and stable though. It could be worse. I could be out of a job. I would be okay with that for a while, but I know I’d like to start working before I get really bored.

I do wish that things changed though. Management can still have sticks up themselves and it just seems petty and ridiculous now. We’re having an all employee meeting at the end of the month and if the little things are being pecked at, I won’t be too worried to speak my mind about it. At this point, why should small things be the issue? Something like being on the internet for a few minutes shouldn’t be the big problem when we’re not getting new project deals or sales are low. They just don’t correlate. Feeding the birds outside definitely isn’t bringing more money to the company, but I digress.

I’ve been more introverted at work in 2009. There are a few reasons. My dad started making my lunches so I just stay in and eat. That saves me money and I get good food. Not only that, I can catch up on videos during my lunch hour instead of at home where I can do other things. And I was honestly getting tired of hearing myself and coworkers complain about work during lunch. Nothing ever came from it and things have come up multiple times. It felt like an unnecessary strain to be having the same conversations over and over again and we have them over and over again because nothing changes. I’ve also been talking less to people in the office in general. It’s mostly for the same reasons of not going out to lunch anymore. More complaints, more of the same thing, nothing changing. I’ll talk every now and then, but once the same complaints come up, I’ll start to remove myself and just listen to music in my office all day. I’ll still go to lunch with the guys sometimes, but after a few years of going to the same places that are around, I’ve gotten bored of the food around here. I don’t mind going to them once in a while now or even on a non-work day because it’s been a while, but I can’t go back to going to the same places on a weekly basis.

=====Wrestling=====
This is my main sport interest. Other people have football, basketball, baseball…I have wrestling. I don’t have many people I can talk to about wrestling. Friends that used to watch wrestling don’t watch anymore. Yes, the product is not the same and some new faces are lame, but then I’ve heard complaints such as “So-and-so is still wrestling?! He’s so old. He needs to quit.” So where is the middle ground in a conversation like that? Yes, it’s fake, but so are movies and games and other forms of entertainment. So…I really don’t talk about wrestling to anyone unless it’s about wrestling’s past or something that is actually really good going on right now. You can add wrestling to the list of things I’m interested that my friends aren’t. I have no problem with that. Just don’t bash my stuff when you don’t affiliate or keep up with and are just giving a one-sided uniformed opinion about it. I don’t bash your stuff that makes you happy. You’re welcome.

Going to Wrestlemania was awesome. Wrestlemania being my first live wrestling event was great. Going to my second live event to see ECW and Smackdown was awesome. Being able to sit so close to the ring for being seat fillers was awesome. Going to another live show would be awesome.

*I feel like I’m complaining a lot so far. I’ll touch on that later.*

=====Middle of 2009=====
Things had started to calm down. The emotional wreck at the beginning of the year tapered off and was turning in a positive direction, which I was thankful for. I bought my HD camera during this time and have enjoyed using it throughout the year. The last half of the year served as a big “getting used to the camera” time frame. I didn’t want to get too creative with any of my ideas without knowing what I could do with the camera and my limited editing skills. It might have been during this time of the year that I started to complain less and became more introverted at work.

=====XMAS Bash 2009=====
The 7th Annual XMAS Bash was fun. It always is. The main feature was the game show that Christiana and I put together for people to play. Unfortunately she couldn’t be there due to a scheduling conflict. It would’ve been less stressful had she been there in terms of set up and such. Regardless, the game show worked well and people had a great time. The originally thought of 1-hour show went on for 90 minutes and that 90 minutes flew by. A lot of great moments happened that were very memorable. I’ll edit the footage once I upgrade my PC so it can perform better.

Giving people my gifts to them felt nice. Everyone that got something from me got a lego shirt that you can put legos on and make any design with it. I personalized everyone’s and that took a good 3 hours. I couldn’t believe it. Good thing I didn’t film it like I originally planned although that would’ve been a nice touch.

Good Work was finally released to the masses. The cryptic “I’m very busy this last part of the year” is now completed and out there. Christiana and Michael did photoshoots with some of our friends and composed a magazine complete with interviews. I was a part of all of it being the first subject/model and for filming all the behind the scenes footage of the shoots. That also won’t be completed until I get my PC upgraded. Anyways, good work on Good Work, everyone. It was a fun experience that I wouldn’t mind being a part of again.

=====New Year’s Eve=====
Mm, a great success as well. This year I invited friends to come over and watch over the clips I’ve filmed throughout the last half of the year. It did exactly what I wanted; it got people remembering and reminiscing about what they did and laughing at each other again. It showed those that weren’t there for events what they missed out on and hopefully encouraged them to try and make it out to more of our little gatherings. Seeing the fully produced Tempura Cook-Off was funny. Wilson did a great job with it (except for misspelling my last name, ahem). Watching back on the videos I produced was also nice. Not all the clips taken that year were in HD so watching some of my SD videos brought back memories for everyone. The last 2 videos were the videos I produced were to highlight the year. Thank you to Ada who provided the opening graphic for “HEY MY FRIEND” and thank you to Yvonne who provided the opening graphic for “Lotta Love.” “HEY MY FRIEND” by Tommy Heavenly6 was a mellow song that showcased more of the laid back clips or more of the aww-inducing ones. “Lotta Love” featured a lot of the silly and stupid things that we did that were caught on film. Both were labors of love with “HEY MY FRIEND” being easier to produce since I didn’t do too many fancy things or use as many clips for it. “Lotta Love…” that was a chore. It was a 7-minute song for one thing. I also used a ton of clips for this and a lot of pictures also. The first minute of the video consisted of 50-60 photos. I think I used 70-80 images for that whole video. Not only that, but it would take forever to export. In the end, it would take 7 hours for the final (beginning to end) to export out. The second to last time I exported it, there were 4 minor mistakes. 4! It took only a couple minutes to smooth out the 4 video issues, but it took another 7 hours to export again. Man…I was really pushing my PC heavily for that video. Again, it was a labor of love and I loved how both videos turned out as well as everyone else.

Fireworks afterwards was nice. It was VERY cold. Barry put on a great show. I always enjoy someone doing something for the group especially if it’s something you don’t expect out of them.

Didn’t set any resolutions for this year. I know I said I didn’t make any last year, but I did and I kept it. It was a silly one, but I put some effort into keeping it. I’m also continuing it, but I’m more open to breaking it if/when an opportunity comes.

=====2010 Formal=====
The Formal is finally starting to be planned out. The first Formal happened in 2005 and now it’s 5 years later. I’m anticipating how this will turn out. We now have a 6-person committee (3 of which were part of the first Formal committee) to handle things. Getting the committee together was the first step and that is done. The next step is finding a venue to hold the Formal. I think once we find the place, everything else will fall into place and be easier to figure out. The only thing that has been voiced that we’re worried about is the amount of people that will attend. We’re shooting for 30-40 with probably 50 at the max. The estimated date is July.

I do like putting these things together. This, the game show, the Roast…all fun, all different, all out of the norm. I’m very glad people have been receiving these events well and enjoy being a part of it.

=====Negative/Positive=====
I mentioned earlier how I felt I was complaining a lot. I didn’t like how I that was coming out. In 2009, I’ve adopted to be more positive and less negative. I try to find positives out of anything, but I know that not everything can have a positive spin. I also try saying more positive things (even sometimes I feel it sounds corny and “not like me” at times). Positive feedback is something that anyone can benefit from. Negative feedback can be okay depending on how it is broadcasted. There’s negative feedback that is pushing towards an improvement and there’s negative feedback that is just negative to be negative.

I shared how I deal with things at work. A lot of that deals with that I feel too many things were just putting out a negative feel. It always killed my mood. I remember one instance where I was just walking to get out of my office for a minute and stretch. I went to say “hi” to a coworker and she totally dumped on how it was a Monday and how she hates being at work on Mondays and that so-and-so isn’t working etc. And those few minutes really ruined whatever upbeat mood I was feeling. I actually came back to my office and wondered why everything she talks about is always something that is the worst thing in the world to happen ever. So for instances like that and others is why I’ve kept to myself more at work.

The concept of having to vent is understandable. We all have to. Bottling up how we feel about anything isn’t a good practice and we could how an unfortunate outburst because of that. I don’t mind venting or listening to others vent as long as it is in doses. I don’t like it if every conversation I have with someone is always because something sucks or that life sucks. The bigger problems in our lives need to be voiced and vented about and need feedback in case those issues are too big to handle. I have no problem with that. Those are times when you need to turn to your family/friends and get help with or just someone you could voice yourself to. It’s the little complaints that get to me. Not that I don’t complain about little things, but I don’t harp on them as much as I used to.

I chalk it up to the fact that people are used to talking about things a certain way. “I hate when I get calls from telemarketers.” “This video game doesn’t control well. It sucks.” “It’s Monday.” “I hate hearing this song on the radio all the time.” “That guy cut me off.” None of these signal the end of the world, but sometimes people make it seem that way. Not only that, but sometimes they’ll go on about it or bring it up again. I don’t understand bringing it up again. Why talk about something you don’t like if all it’s going to do is make your emotions boil? And in the case of these small complaints, do something about it or let it go. If you hate getting calls from telemarketers, find a way to block your number from them (there are ways) or just don’t pick up these unknown numbers. If it’s really from someone you know and it’s important, they’ll try reaching you again. If the game’s controls suck, it could be one of two things. Either you don’t know how to properly utilize the controls or the controls are really messed up. I find that people don’t like the Wii because of motion controls and “I don’t like flailing my arms to play games” etc. Those usually come from people that don’t grasp it entirely or want to spend the time to figure it out. Watch, when Sony’s motion controls come out, it’s going to be “the most awesome thing in the world and the Wii’s motion controls suck.” That’s another discussion in itself. Back on track; Mondays are coming. You can’t avoid them. So why not grab Monday by the throat and get the most out of it rather than cower from it? It’s just another day of the week. If you don’t like the songs on the radio, change the station or use a different music player (ipod, mp3 player, cds). Whenever I’m listening to my ipod, there’s never a song I feel is overplayed and there will never be a song I don’t like hearing because I have control over what I get to listen to. If someone cuts you off in the road, is it that big a deal? You weren’t forced over to another lane because of it, you weren’t hit, and you’re still heading towards your destination. You’re fine. The other driver is obviously in more of a hurry than you for reasons you don’t know. Yes, there are bad drivers out there, but you can’t control them. Just make sure you get yourself to where you’re going safely.

This feels long-winded. I’d rather actually discuss this type of thing in person. But I’ll touch on a few other things before moving on. Don’t make fun of other peoples’ interest. It is what makes them happy. Don’t you want your friends/family to be happy? Only if they’re doing something questionable is when you should question it. How would you feel in that type of situation? An example would be that you just listened to your favorite song from your favorite artist. Someone that doesn’t like the song tells you that it sucks. Fine, we all have different tastes. Then that person says that the artist is an idiot and writes the dumbest lyrics. Okay…that’s their opinion. You defend your favorite song and artist now and it falls on deaf ears. Now let’s repeat that a few times and you find out the person doesn’t really even know the artist or the song. Now…what did that accomplish? You tried to defend why you like something to someone who doesn’t care in the first place and you allowed them to talk bad about them. All that does was probably made you feel bad. What was the point of the other person? Were they trying to prove a point? Were they saying you were wrong for having such interests? Or did they just want to tell you why they believe what they believe is right? Things like this, to me, are a waste of time. Just let people like what they like. You can be playful and tease them about it, but don’t say their stupid for liking it and voice why you don’t like it. That’s their thing.

There is something I’ve tried with a few people or have said to a few people before. For every negative thing you say, I hope there is something positive in your life you can tell me about no matter how small it is. I don’t think that anyone I know constantly has problems and only has negative things happening around them. Sometimes we just forget to think about those small things that make us happy. It could be something small like playing a game, watching your favorite show/movie, playing with a pet, anything. I remember talking to a friend about some relationship issues that person was having. After all that, I asked that person to tell me something that their partner does that always brings a smile to their face. From that point on, the rest of our conversation was upbeat and we moved on to a different subject. Sometimes it does take a reminder to let people know that we have good things in our lives.

Yeah…I’ve lost a few other points I’ve wanted to make about this, but that’s okay. Like I said, this feels long-winded and I’d rather talk about it in person. Bottom line is that we can all benefit from being more positive towards ourselves and others. People are wired a certain way and it’s hard to change that especially if they’re a negative person. Those are probably the ones that could benefit the most from positive feedback. Just be more mindful of others and try help bring them up instead of bring them down.

And I apologize for this section being long. I just feel strongly about it.

=====Magic=====
I started learning magic tricks early 2009. I haven’t learned too many over the year and haven’t performed them that much. I remember wanting to perform a show for my friends, but most of the tricks I learned are more one-on-one tricks. Thanks go out to Brian Brushwood. Thanks to TRS, thanks to diggnation, thanks to all of revision3.

=====HD Camera=====
I love the HD camera I bought. I’m glad I have 2 (thanks to Tony damaging his and selling it at a low low price). This year was a great try out with the camera and I’m hoping to produce some better stuff in 2010. One big thing I would still like to try with some friends is to make a music video. I’ve thought about writing out scenes and such, but I think I’ll wait till the spring to actually put things down in writing and then see who is available to help me out. But here’s to more HD camera fun in 2010.

=====Royal Flush Media=====
So…I’ve started a business. This was actually something that was starting to get legs a couple years ago. A few of us got together to try and sell photos on photo sharing sites you pay for. We didn’t meet those requirements and kind of put the idea down for a while to hone our skills. I actually dropped my photo skills for video skills. I’ve shared my videos with friends and that was what we watched during New Year’s Eve. Well, 2009 was the birth/rebirth of Royal Flush Media. We provide photos and videos for whatever the customer may want. We have temporary business cards and I’ve been handing some out. We have a logo and a site is being created. Hopefully we’ll get a decent amount of work that’s RFM related and start to spread our name out more. So if you know anyone that needs some photos or videos done, let us know. I’ll update more on RFM as it grows.

=====Music=====
I miss Cheon Sang Ji Hee. I did read that Stephanie got into a ballet school, so that’s cool. Nice to see she’s doing okay since her back injury. Sunday recently did some performances alongside another singer (forgot his name). Haven’t heard anything about Dana. Lina supposedly owns/manages a mall or something. I forget. But I would love to see them come back as a group and rock the stage. With all these Korean idol groups, I still think they’re very underrated and the most talented in terms of vocals as a group.

BoA is coming out with her 7th Japanese album early 2010. Of course that’s going to be ordered. I miss seeing her also. I’m glad she did alright in the American scene, but it would’ve been great had she got more exposure. Business. Oh well. She’s always going to be successful in Asia.

SNSD…so they’ve filled my music gap for 2009. It’s…odd. I remember not wanting to like this group when I first saw them because there were 9 of them. Now, I wouldn’t have it any other way. They came at the right time for me. Like I’ve stated earlier, 2009 didn’t start off well for me. That’s when SNSD started their Gee promotions and it was always the bright part of my day seeing them perform. I did get bummed when I heard their Gee promotions were going to end, but then they did Genie. That and extra Gee performances just made it a good year for them and kept me happy throughout 2009.

I’ve ended every post in 2009 with a comment on SNSD. That’s how important they were to me in 2009. If people make fun of me because my “image” doesn’t match theirs, whatever. They make me happy and I’m quite fond of them. An example would be one of my photoshoots for Good Work. One of my themes was dancing/performing and I chose 3 songs for that shoot. One of them was Himnae (Way To Go) and those pictures were actually used more than any others from that particular shoot.

Each member of SNSD is great in their own way, but 2 had managed to capture my attention the most. 2…I know…greedy. It started with HyoYeon because she was the only one I really knew when they first debuted. Then Jessica slowly made her way in. They’re both my favorite for different reasons and I’ve often wondered which I liked more. In the end…Jessica has a small edge on that. Sorry, HyoYeon. At least she can claim to be first, ha.

I’ve said a lot about SNSD over the year so I won’t gush too much over them now. So to the music in my life and mainly CSJH, BoA, and SNSD, thank you all for making me happy. I love you all very much.

=====Thoughts on 2010=====
Let’s see what I can jinx right now, ha. Kidding.

- I hope Royal Flush Media gets some business. I would be really crushed if we got nothing in 2010.

- I’m anticipating the 2010 Formal. I predict a great success. I’ll be more sure of that once we procure a venue to hold the event at.

- I feel like I’ll be playing fewer games in 2010. I do have a list of games I want to play when they come out, but the majority of them have no exact release date. We’ll see what happens there. Oh, I’m also curious as to what my 100th review will be. Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: The Crystal Bearers was my 90th review. Hard to believe. I started reviewing games in 2004 and now I’m up to 90 reviews. Amazing.

- I know I’ll enjoy BoA’s 7th Japanese album as well as SNSD’s 2nd full album when they’re released early 2010.

And I think that is it. This was a long and lengthy post and I’ve said that a few times already. I’ll be leaving you all with the 2 videos I made and showed during New Year’s Eve as well as SNSD’s Genie MV with subtitles produced by Soshified. To those that read this, congratulations on making it to the end and thank you very much. I’m hoping for a positive 2010 for myself and the people around me. Be good, be safe, eat fruit (which I should do more of), and bye to 2009.

HEY MY FRIEND

Lotta Love

SNSD – Genie – MV (subtitles)

Take care.