Got a little inspiration this morning (06.29.10) to start typing this out so it wouldn’t be late. I will say that you should stick around for the end (or skip to the end…) for an announcement of the future of “Just Like Coffee That Has Cooled.” That’s the name of the blog in case you didn’t know for some reason.
=====Work=====
I’ve used this phrase with a few friends before, but I think it is ringing out more true than ever for me. “Sit and get paid.” With how slow it has been at work lately, I’ve started to run out of things to do. I am typing this blog when I should be working. The thing is, I have no problem with that. It really seems like no one cares anymore around here. We’re all doing stuff we’re not supposed to to pass the time (and can still stupidly get in trouble for it) because there simply is nothing else to do.
Almost everyone is back to a full schedule, but that’s because they have work to catch up on. There are 4 of us that aren’t and I am one of them. I have been given the choice to work full time or not and I have chosen at this moment to not. A few reasons. One being that I have other things to take care of on the days I take off. Two being I have nothing to do at work that is of high priority or nothing to do at work at all. Three being that even though I can “sit and get paid” an extra day, I’d rather not be in the office bored out of my mind.
I’ll just wait until this boat sinks. In the meantime, sit and get paid.
=====Video Games=====
Yeah…nothing new. Just haven’t made time to actually play games this month or just didn’t want to or have anything I wanted to play. Watching E3 conferences was probably the big game thing I did. I did add a few more games to my current list of wants, but it wasn’t that many. Although when an official list of 3DS games comes out, my list of wants will definitely grow. 3DS, that is a must buy for me.
=====Video Projects=====
I actually had a bit of real work this time. I did one for a friend’s cousin, which was a photo montage of pageant stuff (she’s relinquishing her crown after her year reign). That actually took a lot of time and a lot of communication through email/texts to get done. Nonetheless, it was an experience and a possible lead to do pageant work for Royal Flush Media. I think having the 2009 National American Miss Texas attached to our name is unique.
I also did a video to promote an upcoming workshop at SoundBox Studios. Their in-house editor was tired/burnt-out/lazy so I was approached to put the video together. It was actually a simple process that took 2 days to do, but about 5 hours total. Having someone sit in to ask if you can do it this way or that way was not bad although I only think that was because this was a friend rather than a real client whom I’ve never interacted with. I am actually pretty happy with the end product. Another finished project that RFM can use to advertise (our logo is actually on it).
I did do a video for the 1 Year of HD entry I had last posted last month. I actually made a longer entry elsewhere and posted the video, but I won’t burden readers with that. That video along with the other two mentioned earlier will be at the end of this post like usual.
I have been working more on polishing up the XMAS Bash game show from last year. I think after this round of adding stuff there should be one or two things left I’d like to add. One will definitely involve photos so I’ll ask for some assistance on finding and cropping photos from a few people in the near future. If I get all that taken care of…I would estimate that I’d actually have the whole thing done within the autumn season.
=====Formal 2010/2010 Formal/Summer Reunion=====
Yeah…the name changed. We’ve changed a few things also to hopefully generate more interest for guests to come. While more have been added to the guest lists, I don’t think it’s because of our changes. So I feel like we compromised a few things for nothing. But whatever. As long as people want to come and have fun, great.
The CF series for the event have been up and running. I really don’t know if those had an impact on influencing possible guests, but it couldn’t have hurt us. My mentality is that if people see how much effort we’re putting into this then they’d be intrigued to see what all the fuss is about. Of course, that’s not the case for everyone. Planning events…ugh.
But the event is nigh and it’s happening. So if you’re coming, I’ll see you there and have fun with you.
I’ve been more active on Soshified lately. My dead time at work usually has me going to read posts, make comments, and check out photos there. Recently found out that there are a nice chunk of SNSD fans in Texas and that one of the top mods is actually from Houston. Apparently they do meet ups so that might be something to look forward to in the near future.
I have also been participating in the multiple 3rd Anniversary projects they’re doing for the group (their 3rd year together). One is a message book where anyone can submit a 100 word-or-less message to be included in a large book that will be sent to SNSD. Along with that is a large gift project where donations will go to sending them tons of gifts. I donated to that. Another donation project is a Charity Water Well. Check out the site for details on it. I donated to that as well. Even if SNSD wasn’t attached to the charity, it does sound like a worthy cause. Unfortunately, there have been some complications with this project and there is a small possibility that it might not happen. Here’s to hoping that it actually goes through.
Then there’s the 3rd Anniversary Around The World SONE Video. They asked fans to submit photos or videos of different landmarks/locales from where fans are from and have a specific logo or other identification of SNSD be part of it. The end result will be a music video to show the girls where their fans are from. I participated in this along with a friend who is also on Soshified. We did something with the Water Wall here in Houston (wind…unpredictable factor). He did a photo and I did a video (of course). Both of our entries were approved, but that doesn’t guarantee our entries will actually make the final cut. So we’ll have to wait until they finish the music video (July-August) to know if we are in it or not.
=====Final Thoughts=====
Deleted the spam inducing entry. No additional spam has come through.
150+ episodes into “You Are My Destiny.”
There is a possibility of getting an intermediate Salsa class started. I hope it actually happens because while doing the beginner class is still fun, I’d like to learn more.
I bought an underwater housing unit for my video camera. I did a simple test. It works, but I need a better environment to actually test it out in rather than the confines of a bathtub.
I need to develop a better form of bowling. My current (and usually effective) way hurts my leg a lot.
“The Karate Kid” with Jackie Chan and Jayden Smith is pretty good. If you’re going to compare it to the original and harp on that it’s Kung-Fu rather than Karate (which they pointed out in the movie itself) then you’re not giving it a chance. It’s a nice coming-of-age movie with perhaps the most emotional scene I’ve ever seen from Jackie Chan.
Blueberry picking was fun. I had always wanted to do some type of fruit picking thing before. I’m not the biggest blueberry fan, but I was in it for the experience. It was a small taste of what happens on Invincible Youth. I do hope to do some other type of fruit picking in the future. Apple picking would be spectacular. I do like apples.
Ever spend 20-25 minutes waiting for your food at a drive-thru? It’s not fun.
My parents went with other family members to Hawaii. So they were gone for a little over a week and just returned on the 28th. Seeing their photos were nice. They’re telling me I need to go to Hawaii. Oh, I plan to sometime. That is definitely a place on my need-to-visit/vacation list.
And I didn’t forget about the announcement. It’s not the biggest announcement in the world, but a heads up won’thurt. I’m heavily thinking to move this blog, my game review blog, and (if possible) my Xanga over to Squarespace. I haven’t officially decided to do this yet, but I’m really considering it. I’ll do a little more research on it before deciding for sure. If I do make the move, then the first entry will go up in September. The July 2010 entry will have more information on whether it will happen or not.
Okay, that’s it. That’s over 1600 words you’ve read.
Late for no reason this time. I have just been occupying myself lately and typing up this entry was usually a small afterthought. A lot did happen so I guess it didn’t really hit me that I’d be summarizing things soon.
Enough of that jargon. Onto the entry.
=====Work===== Nothing big to report on the work front. We’re still taking time off to pay off a loan. Some workers are temporarily working full time again though just because there is work to be done.
I am actually back to full time temporarily also. This is recent and is actually June news, but I’ll just mention it now. Shipping is taking some time off so I have to cover like always. Over the span of 3 weeks, only 1 is a full week and the rest are a few days here and there. As of typing this, I’m actually in shipping right now (break period of no orders). Shipping always comes with the luxury of making the day go by fast. Can’t argue with that especially when you have stuff to do outside of work that you’re looking forward to.
Honestly, I don’t think my review of Galaxy 2 did the game justice. This isn’t the first time I’ve reviewed a game that I really liked that I felt I gave a lackluster review for. At least for Galaxy 2, I felt it is something to experience rather than to read about. Those with a Wii need to add this game (and the first one) to their library.
I did finish the second Phoenix Wright on WiiWare. The third sits untouched for when I have downtime. Also got Episode 5 for the first title. I did download “Wild Guns” for the Virtual Console. That was a nice quick (and challenging) romp of 16-bit goodness. It definitely was harder than I thought it would be. It would be nice to try it with a second player sometime.
=====Video Projects===== Only 2 real videos were done in May (end of entry like always). There are a couple more related to the Formal, but I’ll talk more about that later.
I do have a big project planned that I would like to do for my birthday. Without giving away too many details, it’s a talk/variety show. It’s a chance for us to learn more about our friends through stories and fun activities. I have the talk segments and activity segments planned out (even the questions to be asked) and I’m thinking of how to set up everything (camera angles, audience/guest positioning, possible decorations, etc.). I’m only worried about getting guests and if people will actually be interested in the idea at all whether they’re a guest or part of the audience. I’m hoping for 5 guests at the least. If there are more, I’ll implement a rotating guest function because I do plan for this to be long. Each segment involves a talk and activity portion and I plan/hope for each segment (3 total) to last an hour long. Breaks will be scheduled of course. It’s a plan in the works and I will soon start generating some buzz to see who is interested.
=====1 Year of HD (06.12.09-06.12.10)===== Kind of hard to believe that it’s been a year since I bought my HD camera. So much has been happening since then and it makes me glad I was there to capture most of those memories on film for myself and for others to view. I’ve enjoyed all the videos I’ve made and it seems that more people are up for doing bigger and crazier things.
I wanted to make a video highlighting one year of HD. I still have time to do something if I really force myself to. In a way, I don’t think it’s necessary, but it definitely wouldn’t be bad to do something. As of writing this out, I have a week to decide and execute anything if I do. I have 3 ideas and I’ll just have to see which might seem the easiest for me to do within that week (barring other things happening during the week).
Over time, I’ve come to have a certain style. It’s nothing big, but I like to make clips work to the music I set them to. One of my favorite videos is still the Photo Trip in 2009 and that wasn’t in HD (I should do one for the one we had this year…). Other than that, editing the XMAS Bash from last year shows how variety shows I’ve watched over the years effects how I edit. That is pretty much done, but I do want to add more to it.
I don’t do graphics, but occasionally I’ll ask for photos from someone to use. I may start asking for more collaboration on these just to make the videos sparkle a little more.
I am still very protective about my cameras. The one that is already damaged, I don’t mind others using it. The original one…even though I’ve damaged it (recently dropped it…) I still don’t like others to touch it unless I ask them to. All the other equipment I’ve bought (tripods, lights, etc) I don’t mind others touching. The camera, that’s the most important (and expensive) thing I worry about the most. I have thought recently to get a 3rd camera. I have borrowed a coworker's before, but at least with a 3rd, I won't have to worry about ruining his or someone else damaging it in some way. We'll see what happens with that idea.
I’m also thinking more like a director. It does suck that I can’t control everyone during these events (getting in the way of the camera, saying inappropriate things, etc.), but I can’t anyways. This isn’t work. This is our friends coming together to have fun. They’re not getting paid to be directed around and that’s understandable. There are just moments during editing where I think “I wish you didn’t stand there” or “You really shouldn’t say that especially since it’s now captured on camera.” It would just help if others were more camera aware.
I have yet to figure out how to purely and effectively be in front of the camera and still get what I want filmed. I do at least tell whoever I wish to have behind the camera what to do to a small degree. Still doesn’t mean they’ll shoot it the way I want it, but most of my friends deal with photos rather than video. I can’t help, but want to be part of the fun activities we do so I want to do them. Some of the smaller ones, I don’t mind just being behind the camera and catching everyone else having fun. But for bigger activities where I can set up cameras, I’ll at least try to get certain people behind the camera for me (usually those not participating). Maybe over time they will be more comfortable with shooting for me. What I plan to do for my birthday will be a great example of me needing cooperation and having people other than me behind the camera. There’s no way around it since I’ll be on stage the whole time.
Somewhere down the line, I’d like to have a studio. This can also help with Royal Flush Media (advertise to your friends). Doing stuff outdoors is usually/always unpredictable. Someone’s house can be a controlled environment, but that’s someone’s house. It’s not built to be a studio. Sure, you can adjust things to make it work like a studio, but it’s still a house. So having a studio ready to set up and manipulate freely would really help in some of our bigger things we plan as well as add some professionalism to Royal Flush Media. Maybe that can be something I can think to invest in.
Anyways, look forward to more videos from me. I hope for more people to want to be in front of the camera and be more cooperative as time progresses.
=====2010 Formal/Formal 2010===== Ah, the Formal. Well, in order to generate more interest in the event, we have started filming a series of commercials/CFs. The first one has been aired (end of entry) and we will be releasing new ones once a week until the final week before the Formal.
I really hope more people show interest. We’re in a crunch with the low number of guests at the moment. Schedules should be easier to plan out this close to the event for those still on the fence. Any other reason, well...I don’t know. Some just aren’t interested at all. Those that already marked that they aren’t going, I’m not going to try to change their mind about it. All the unsure ones, I hope they at least choose whether they’re going or not before the final week of June. Then the committee will finalize everything then.
Planning this hasn’t been the easiest thing in the world. And I’ll end it there not to whine about it too much.
=====Final Thoughts===== I mentioned in my last entry about getting spam more lately in my email and blog posts. I can’t really put a stop on the emails, but the ones that keep getting sent to my blog I can fix. I’m going to delete that entry soon (keep forgetting). I’ve thought to move it to my review blog, but I figure that the same thing will happen. So sooner or later my review of “Mario & Sonic At The Olympic Games” will disappear from the internet.
120+ episodes into “You Are My Destiny.” Only about 50 more to go I think.
Ah, Salsa…how I do enjoy going there every Wednesday. I mentioned briefly last entry that Cinco de Mayo helped a funk I was in. Well, it just happened to be a day of Salsa class. It just lifted my spirits. Thanks, Lucia, for being so awesome and so hot, ha!
Another random karaoke outing. Well, it was something we did to celebrate a few friends graduating college. It was fun, just like last time. We sang more Korean songs (those that knew any) this time around and I had a blast. I’m pretty sure at one point I sang 5-9 songs in a row due to me picking a few and others picking songs that I wanted to sing also. 4 of those were SNSD songs in a row. There were 5 total and we did them all (Oh!, Kissing You, ITNW, Genie, and Gee). Other than those and a few other ones I really liked singing, I think my favorite song I did that night was BoA’s “Bump! Bump!” I really like that song. Can’t wait to go there again and to see what new Asian songs they added since then.
I lost a lot of sleep this month. A good week or so, I didn't feel fully awake due to forcing myself to go to certain events with little sleep in between. Trust me, I wanted to sleep. It just didn't happen at times. I'm fine now. No worries.
Crabbing/Fishing was fun. Memorial Day was fun.
Congratulations to all that graduated this year.
And...I lost my train of thought from when I started this at work to when I continued this at home. It never fails. Might as well end it instead of delaying this entry longer. So here's to June and what it may bring.
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.
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.
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:
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.
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 hada 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.
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 7th 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 6th 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.
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.
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.
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.
