Here’s me apologizing for the lateness of this entry. Here’s me also trying to recollect the events of the past month. A few things have already started in September, but I’ll save those for next month (if I remember).
=====Work=====
Nothing big here. Everyone is back to working full time. More money, can’t complain too much about that. I do miss my extra day off every week though. That was time to just relax a little more and to get things done.
Spent most of August just inputting each video we have onto our new website. Tedious task, yes, but I don’t mind doing those things sometimes since I’ll at least be busy. It did start to hurt my wrist after a while (repeated stress injury), but that only bothered me for a day or two at best.
I also took a week off for the heck of it. Normally, I use my vacation days for being sick. And workers usually cash in their time off at the end of the year. So to avoid any hassle, I just took a week off. I had nothing lingering to be done at work so I took it off with all my ends finished.
AND THEN the S hits the F when I come back…(next month).
=====Video Games=====
Not much here either. I did for some reason decide to play Ico, an early PS2 game. I had a copy of it from long ago, but I never got around to it. I beat it at the start of my week off. That was a very nice game. I really enjoyed it. I would like to get a copy of Shadow of The Colossus, but only if I can get it without the Greatest Hits label. I have no game that has any such label and I’d like to keep it that way.
I did pick up Metroid: Other M when it came out. I beat it in 3 days. So here’s the review link.
Did a couple of small ones this month. One to commemorate the photos on KT Ning (although that might have been done in July…just didn’t show it right away…don’t remember), one was a silly one done with a friend I visited during my week vacation, and the other is a trailer for what we did on my birthday.
I’ll post those at the end of the entry as always. And I’ll also state that from now on, any video projects I’ve done and post here will be through my Vimeo account. Since YouTube sometimes throws up a warning due to music use, I figured to keep at least my postings here consistent and have them all be from Vimeo.
=====Square Space + Blog Changes=====
Wondering about the move to Square Space? It’s not happening. I did do their 2 week trial, but during that time I realized a few things.
One was that it would help if I knew more about what I was doing. Not that I couldn’t figure out everything (although some took time), but I found myself messing with stuff that I ended up not needing to do or use. The interface was easy to use, but half the time I was just guessing at what I was doing. There was one point where I spent half an hour trying out stuff and realized that I didn’t even want to use it in the end.
Second would be that I attempted this at the wrong time. I was too busy to actually budget time to properly sit down and make this work. Sure, I could’ve extended the free trial, but I just wasn’t feeling it.
Third is my current blogs’ traffic. The number of visitors to this blog and my game review blog does not justify me paying a small fee for something better. Would it have attracted more visitors? I don’t think so.
There might have been a few other reasons, but those were the main ones. That’s not to say I won’t ever use Square Space. Right now is not the right time I guess.
But there have been changes to this blog and my game one. Both have different banners at the bottom (just felt like changing them). Both also have video feeds on the side to our Royal Flush Media videos. I have noticed that every other time you refresh the page, the videos change from RFM videos to a random selection of videos. So if you see some weird videos, just refresh and RFM videos should pop up next. And this blog in particular underwent a name change. “Just Like Coffee That Has Cooled…” ran its course (and not everyone understood the meaning behind it). “Forever Graceful Impact” is the new name. While not everyone will understand the meaning of this title also, at least some friends can identify it with the talk/variety show we did. Possibly more tweaks to both sites in the near future.
=====Forever Graceful Impact XXVIII=====
Thank you to all that attended. A bigger thanks to those that worked the cameras. An even bigger thanks to the featured guests of the show. Without any of those components, none of this would’ve been possible.
For my birthday, we did a variety show. It was always something I wanted to do so I thought this would be the opportunity to try it. It was also a vehicle to let our friends learn a little more about each other as we shared stories, opinions, and thoughts about one another. I could recall during breaks in between segments that some people would talk to each other and relate to their stories/opinions. Nothing like getting closer to friends through similarities.
I’ve watched all of it through the wide shot I set up and that turned out well. I’ve started to edit it together with the other camera angles to see how they turned out. So far I’ve gone through the trouble to sync them together and split the segments up. The first one is the longest segment so that will take some time. I do predict to have this finished sooner than the XMAS Bash game show. Check out the trailer for it at the end of this post.
Will we do something like this again? Maybe not exactly the same, but I’d like to use some of it over again with different friends featured.
=====Final Thoughts=====
I don’t always notice it, but I feel more busy than usual. I say that I don’t always notice it because I will find myself thinking that I’m bored. This month was a little more busy with planning and putting together Forever Graceful Impact XXVIII.
I’ve actually started taking hip hop classes at Soundbox. I was invited to come join by one of the instructors (Brette) so I went. It did help that she told me what song she was going to teach to. So it’s been a month since I’ve started. I’ve been impressing people to the point that a few are asking me to join Wyldstyl. I think it’s just shocking to some since I’ve never brought up my dance background to any of them before. I’m not the best dancer in the world or up to snuff like Wyldstyl, but I can dance. Now whether I actually join Wyldstyl or even teach there (yes, I’ve been asked to) is still up in the air. Right now I’m taking hip hop and salsa for fun and for a stress reliever. Like I’ve told a friend, I forget all my troubles for the hour I’m taking class. So thanks go out to Lucia and Brette and of course Soundbox.
RFM is getting a little more recognition. Not flooded with work, but there are jobs coming in. Our website will soon get a revamp and we’re advertising elsewhere. RFM has a YouTube and Vimeo account to display our videos to the internet world.
September will be full of things to talk about. So far there’s a wedding and me on the edge of quitting my job after coming back from vacation. Stay tuned next month for that. Video time.
July was...busy. I am pretty sure I will forget to mention some things.
=====Work===== Our production manager left around the beginning of the month. Personal family reasons has him taking time off to go Colombia to work things out. While I never really liked the guy personally, his departure was bitter sweet. It's never a good thing when someone has to leave due to unfortunate issues. Even though we had been losing workers one by one, the office actually seems smaller and quieter without him.
The few workers that were having to take mandatory time off now have one day back. So I'm back to working 72 hours per pay period. I always knew that when this time came that I'd be too comfortable with having to take 2 days off each pay period. It actually was nice to have 3-day weekends every week. At least I can still do that once a week.
I was asked yesterday (07.29.10) if I could be a cameraman for a shoot in Louisiana. Unfortunately, they were asking me to go there on Sunday and I'm booked. Were I not participating and filming the event on Sunday and had that booked ever since it was announced, then I would've gone to Louisiana.
=====Video Projects===== Other than working on the XMAS Bash video, which is pretty much done except for the end, I've only made one video (today 07.30.10). Holding off on releasing it for a few reasons that will be mentioned later.
=====Formal/Summer Reunion===== It happened...and it's over...
While I can recall almost everything about it, it kind of seems like a blur. I actually try not to talk about the event because I wanted to put it behind me for a while and not think about it. I only watched the footage from the photo room we had. I don't know when I'll look at the footage, but I'm not rushing to see it. Maybe in another month or so. That also goes for showing anyone else the footage.
=====Motionbox Shutting Down===== Earlier in the month I received an email about Motionbox being bought out and that they were moving to Snapfish. That really sucks as I really liked Motionbox's service. Right now, Snapfish doesn't even support HD and embedding. I am migrating all my stuff there, but if it's not going to be great then I'll cancel that account. This is the main reason I haven't posted any new videos (clips or projects).
Since then I have gotten a Vimeo account and have been uploading my videos there and to my account on YouTube. Downsides to both. Vimeo only allows for 5gigs of uploading a week. Just waiting so I can start putting more up there. YouTube is picky about the music I've added in some of my videos. So far I've gotten notices from WMG, Sony, and Avex. So YouTube won't have all my videos available, but Vimeo will.
Up until August 10th, all my videos that I have embedded anywhere (including this blog) will still be active. After that, they will not be viewable. After I reupload all of them and move to Square Space, I won't replace them. So wherever you have access to my videos, enjoy them while you can. =====3rd Video Camera===== I purchased a 3rd video camera. Coworker needed to sell it so I decided to buy it off of him. The deal was great since it included a few accessories. The one big accessory is the wide angle lens. Never really thought to buy one of those, but there is a difference. It may be a small difference, but there's nothing wrong with a little more being shown. So that 3rd video camera will now serve as the all-time wide shot. He also gave me a carrying bag for the camera.
I also purchased a monopod off of him at a nice price. That will be useful in a creative aspect. And it doesn't end there. There has been a grip/mini tripod I've wanted to buy, but it was always out of stock. I would check for it here and there and I saw it available earlier this week. 3 hours later, it was sold out. Took a few days for another one to be available and I immediately ordered it. It came in today (07.30.10) and I'm happy with it.
My next camera-related purchase will be a big bag to put all this stuff in. Carrying all of it in separate bags isn't exactly fun.
=====Samba Event===== Had a Royal Flush Media job. We were hired by my Salsa teacher Lucia. She wanted us to film her event. At first she wanted just one camera, but I wanted to give her more. So she had 3 video cameras and 1 photographer for the night. That event was very awesome. Lucia's dance group is great. I actually spent most of my free time the week after splicing the different camera angles together to show off all the best views. There were too many good things to look at, ha. Hopefully we'll be working more with Lucia in the future.
The owner/manager of the club the event was held wanted us to do a promo video for him with stuff from the Samba event. Haven't heard from him yet. That's okay. I need a break. =====BoA's Comeback===== Excited? Yes. Pre-ordered album? Yes. Seen the music video? Yes.
It's been about 5 years since BoA has done any activities in Korea. She had a great career in Japan and did alright in her US debut. Her fans in Korea have been clamoring for her to return and she's coming back soon. Her first performance is next week.
Taking a step back, I'm sure this was planned out by her company, SM. SNSD is going to Japan for activities so this would be a great time for BoA to fill in for the company. I'm sure there's more behind the planning than that, but it is a good move by them.
I'm kind of at a loss for words for this. I just want it to happen and I'll enjoy seeing BoA performing the way only she could.
=====Final Thoughts===== Watched the final episode of "You Are My Destiny" today (07.30.10). That was a good drama. Not the best drama, but it was worth watching. I didn't think I would make it through all 178 episodes, but it kept me wanting to see more. The final episode did make me shed more tears.
Another thing that came to an end was Sunny, Yuri, and Hyunah's participation on "Invincible Youth." Due to overseas activities, they needed to leave the show. Such an entertaining show. That show always made me hungry since they were usually making food. I did go through and rewatch all the episodes before Soshified released their final episode on the show. Shed some tears for that also.
Along with Motionbox shutting down, KT will be moving off of the Ning service. So many things coming to an end this month. Crazy.
No mention of games because I didn't play any at all. Been too busy anyways.
"Batman: Under The Red Hood" was released this month. I enjoyed it. I think fans that read this arc in the Batman comics will like it also. I am really excited about what they're working on next; "Superman/Batman Apokolips." Tim Daly and Kevin Conroy will be reprising their respective roles and I can't wait to see it.
I've failed to mention this ever since I started doing it. Since the beginning of June, I have been drinking a cap full of persimmon vinegar every day. Why? It's good for you...apparently. I had not noticed anything, but my stylist asked me why my hair was fuller. That's the only thing I can link to it. The bottle isn't finished yet and I still haven't gotten used to drinking it. I still flinch each time.
There was a visit to the hospital this month. One day I woke up and was just insanely dizzy. I had never had my head spin like that before. I still went to work that day, but I wasn't feeling too great. It happened again the following night to where I needed to have my parents help me get my faculties straight. It only took a small movement of my head to throw me into a dizzy state...scary. Used a vacation day to go to the doctor. In the end, they diagnosed it as a small stint of vertigo. I was prescribed some medication to take for the dizziness and it helped. I would still have spells of being extremely dizzy the next day, but I was totally fine the day after.
The move to Square Space will happen soon. My August entry will either be the last one on this blog or the first one on that new one. There will be notification of the move.
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.
