Saturday, June 4, 2005

   After two days of playing around with that guitar . . .
Holy crap, my left fingers really hurt . . . also, it makes me wanna watch Beck (the anime) again.

Heh . . . there's a part when the main guy is having his guitar lesson and then his fingers are killing him. His teacher just tells him "you can't stop now, or else you won't learn how to play and girls won't like you," or something like that. Haha . . .

I've almost got "I've Got A Feeling" figured out, though. Just need to clean it up a bit. Give me a week, maybe . . .


. . . . . come on, stupid callouses! Build, damn you! Build!!!
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Friday, June 3, 2005

   Since the banner goddess asked . . .
It's a Walden guitar.

So, I didn't really do anything productive today other than drive the Gauls out of their ancestral lands (but then stupid Spain and Germania attacked me . . . jerks . . . . . now I must destroy them too). Heh . . . and I shall liberate the area that will become Portugal because it's there. Y'know, just because.

Aaaaanyways, what I was REALLY getting at was I figured I'd just fill you in on my musical background, since some of you sounded kinda surprised and stuff about the trumpet thing. So here goes:

-At the age of 5 I started taking piano lessons, and took them until I was about 12-13 when I wasn't having fun anymore (though that took a few years to finally declare it . . . tricksy mom, make me tell the teacher myself that I want to quit . . .)
-Quick mention, in grade six-seven we "learned" how to play the guitar in elementary school. It basically gave me a basic understanding of how a guitar works. That's as far as I got, though.
-Just before I quit piano, I started playing the trumpet for band. I played it until grade 12 when I stopped my band career and shifted to English . . . I mean, I always wanted to keep playing, but frankly, my lips just couldn't play as well as I would have liked them to.

And now I download piano sheet music of anime/video game music. Fun times.

So yes, as we speak, I have said-guitar next to me . . . I'm gonna play around a bit now, if anyone needs me, okay?


EDIT: One hour later, my fingers are on fire now. If anyone wants me I'll be watching anime . . .
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Thursday, June 2, 2005

My stepdad won a guitar!!!
So yeah, the band concert was really fun. And to be honest, I was amazed at how good the bands sound now - way better than how we sounded, I'm sure (hehe). But yeah, they were all pretty organized this year, which I guess they figured out after practicing on my graduating year or something . . . very streamlined. Very fun.

Anyway, about that title. So just like any good high school function, there's the raffle draw. I was backstage with the other alumnists who came back to play the one traditional song thing, so I didn't realise it at the time . . . but yeah, when I came home there was a new acoustic guitar sitting in the house. Seems my stepdad had won the raffle draw for it, and . . . yeah. Heh, so now I guess I need to learn how to play the guitar. Because we have one again. And it's pretty. I am sad that I didn't figure it out at the time, though, since I could've made a fuss about it with my friends and stuff. Ah well . . .

Anyway, after a year of not playing the trumpet, I must say that even playing just one song hurts. A lot. But it's worth it. And now the trumpet goes back into the closet for another year . . . . . poor thing . . .
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Wednesday, June 1, 2005

   Oh for the love of toast, that was stupid!!!
I just realised that my PM thing was full, so I might have missed a lot of important PMs from people whom I really care about (as opposed to those "hello" ones that took up all that space . . . dang). So I cleared out most of the junk and now I'm a little less freaked out . . . though I'm still somewhat freaked out. Just sayin', is all . . .

Um, other than that, today's the "June Review" at the high school, meaning all the graduated band students can come back to play this one song. I think this should be fun to see people I haven't seen in a while, show them my sickeningly long hair, and stuff like that. Heh . . . now to find out if anyone's playing Star Wars music and lightsaber fighting for it . . . . . eheh.

Other than that, no work 'til Saturday. This is gonna be sweet . . . . . but yes, now to get back to my people, my Samurai Champloo (which rocks), and . . . whatever else comes this way. Hehe . . .

Oh yeah, I edited the opening thing again. I've added "THE ROOM!!!" tour to my projects and changed the song to the opening theme to that "Shinsengumi!" drama that took up my life last year. 'Tis a good show, I must say.
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Tuesday, May 31, 2005

Day three: rank shirt
It's nice to work a 4 hour shift after a while, y'know? It ends so fast! Hehe . . . this one also ended extra fast seeing as "Boromir" had set up a board of Star Wars (Saga Edition) chess in the back room. Eheh . . . . . it's actually a pretty neat chess set, and I might buy it once the Star Wars promotions end and the prices go down a bit.

So yeah, every now and then we'd just sorta stop working if we were in the back, play for about 10-15 minutes (I'm guessing), and then go back to work while other supervisors walked by and saw us playing. I guess . . . so long as it wasn't a manager, else we'd both probably be looking for new jobs (which would suck for him, seeing as he's a supervisor and all that).

So if anyone's wondering, after my shift ended I went back to the back room so we could finish off our game as best we could. After about 30 minutes of more playing (and him not doing his supervisorial duties [nyah hah hah]), peer pressure from the other supervisors who wanted to leave the store (with him) ended the game. He conceded, feeling that I had more or less won the game (it was a good game, I must say). Heh . . . we'll have to play some time when we're both off work . . .

Other than that, finished Medal of Honor, and am now looking for all the secret stuff. Meantimes, I need to go dry my tiny load of laundry (four days straight without soap-washing that shirt . . . not gonna happen). Have a good Tuesday, now!
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Monday, May 30, 2005

I keep sleeping in!!!
Y'know, waking up BEFORE noon is not a hard thing to do! And yet I keep pushing the limit so bad these days for these blasted 1pm work shifts . . . aiya, 'tis dangerous, 'tis.

So today's Memorial Day in The States. It's a shame there's no official corresponding day in Canada (I'm all about honouring the vets, y'know), but that doesn't mean I won't think about it a bit today . . . . . which sorta perversely brings me to my next tidbit I want to share today . . .

So I bought "Medal of Honor: Pacific Assault" the other day. I dunno, it was a toss-up between that and "Brothers in Arms", but I decided that I'd fought in Europe enough times, and a chance of scenery was needed. Fun game, kinda neat to fight the Japanese rather than the Germans . . . . bayonets are a nice touch . . . . . anyway, let's not glorify violence today. All I wanted to really say was that there's a funny moment in the game that the makers snuck in.

Basically, you're on Guadalcanal, your airfield's being attacked, and you help US fighters into the air. While you fight your way to the AA-guns, you pass a hut with radio chatter looped on it:
"This is Red 5 I'm going in!"
"What about those towers?!"
"You worry about those cannons, I'll worry about those towers!"

Ah, the joys of a random Star Wars reference . . . good times . . . . . alright, it's 11:51 now, I'd best hurry up and get ready for work if I don't wanna rush this time. Peace!
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Sunday, May 29, 2005

   Ooh, lotsa work this week . . .
For the record, my room is generally pretty neat, yes. This is because:
-I don't have enough stuff to really fill out such a large room, hence the empty spots.
-I love ordering things, especially when they're on display and such. It's just a thing I do with this blasted concrete-sequential mindset of mine.
-I just don't touch stuff that often, as I don't have reason to. Thus, it stays in an undisturbed state.

Mm . . . saw Star Wars again with "Legolas" on Friday. Ah . . . . . after we saw it, the thing that sticks in my head is that he made a mention that he thought the "blue jedi girl with the head things was hot". I, in turn, almost howled in laughter. For you see, Aayla Secura is basically the primary wet dream motivator of the prequel trilogy, I believe. And for even non-Star Wars obsessed people to feel the same way, well . . . it's just funny to me. Heh . . . so yes, for those of you that don't know, Twi'leks are basically what elves are to fantasy and vampires are to gothic horror . . . . . they're the super-hot, sexually-whatever race of the Star Wars world (doesn't help that well over half of them are slaves and stuff, either . . .). But anyway . . .


So here I am, late Saturday night, just back from work and chatting with people here and there. Knees are a little wonky from running around doing my department's stuff AND "Boromir's" department's stuff (his guy had a hangover and was pretty much indisposed of all day). But it was alright, it made time go by really fast.

So that was a 13:00-22:00 shift. Tomorrow/today/Sunday, I get to do another 13:00-22:00 to fill in for the other weekend guy in my department. Hehe . . . . then on Monday and Tuesday, it's short afternoon 13:00-17:00 shifts. It's probably nothing especially amazing to work four days in a row, but still . . . I only have one work shirt . . . . . complicates things, yo . . .

Seems I'm gonna be missing a lot of kung-fu practice this week. Dang . . . . . ah well. I'll keep you all tabbed on whatever else happens, a'ight? 'Til then, have a good one, minna-san
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Friday, May 27, 2005

   THE ROOM: my closet, my feet, and a shot from outside my room
So the other day I bought the "Revenge of the Sith" poster I was missing, so that spot's filled now. I also bought this neat little plastic Haku figure for the shelf. It's about 3" tall, has him holding his mask in one hand and his needles in the other, all the while surrounded by ice-type stuff. I'll probably hafta take a picture of that some time . . . so yes, two steps towards room-completion! And yes, I shall definitely have to go buy more little figurines . . . if not for my shelf, then for the people whom the shelf represents.



Close-up of the closed "grad album" and the non-photo side of that roller coaster pic. Heh . . . bonus points for anyone who knows what roller coaster it is and where it's from (one person will have a painfully unfair advantage, I'm sure, but meh). Oh yeah, if anyone tries to figure out the actual photo of four grade 10 band students, we are indeed flipping the bird at the camera - apparently this was before amusement parks started instigating "poor conduct = banning from park" rules. Heh, go us.


Past the drawers, and we come to my closet - its doors never close, but that's just because. Anyway, this is where my pants, some sweaters, and jackets go. And fancy shirts. And the Superstore shirt, if it actually has time to just sit there clean and stuff. At the bottom of the closet on the left you can see my trumpet (which I need to play with in a week or two, actually), and on the right is my sports bag with all my kung-fu stuff like shoes and belts and stuff. On top there is a binocular case, though I also chopped up an old leather backpack to make a strap for it. Why? For the Indiana Jones costume component #4, of course! Hmm . . . actually, while on that subject, see that khaki shirt on the right side of the clothes? That's Indiana Jones costume component #5! Hehe . . . . . oh yeah, and there's some bastard being reflected in the mirror . . . meh.


Here's the other angle of my closet. You can see the Indiana Jones shirt again, along with a better view of my Kung-fu club's jacket (the blue and yellow "Wolverine colours" one). The dark brown jacket is my leather jacket which I love (Indiana Jones costume component #6, though that came much later, perhaps during the costume's 3rd iteration some years later). And yeah, you can see just how deep in this thing goes behind the wall - up top are all these old boxes from whatever, including my steel-toed shoes, LotR toy swords, and . . . the old "childish" posters which no longer have a place on my walls. Down below is a box of old school art projects, especially from elementary school. It seemed like as good a place as any to store 'em.
Oh yeah, neat tidbit: some day I plan on building a trans-continental portal in this closet that connects to the Netherlands. Just thought I'd mention that . . .


And so we've come full circle, back to the back of my door. THat's a laundry hamper than hangs on the back of the door, which is brilliant when I actually use it. For the most part, though, dirty clothes goes on the ground. Thus, this picture just seems funnier that way. That cross above the door had some cool story to it, I think . . . something about being part of a cache on a sunken ship or something . . . . . or something . . . . . in any case, I thought for a while before I hung it up there when I was putting my room together, being that religion hadn't exactly played the largest role in my life these years . . . in the end, I figured I'd had that thing above my door for probably almost all my life, so why stop now, right? After all, it glows in the dark and everything . . . I think, hold on, let me check . . . . . oh yeah, totally glows in the dark. Clearly, I MUST keep it.


And here we are . . . the final photo of my room. I'm lying on my bed, putting my size 8(US) feet up, relaxin', shootin' a shot of the way out. And HOLY CRAP THERE ARE PARANORMAL ORBS FLOATING AROUND IN MY ROOM!!! MY ROOM'S HAUNTED! AHH!!! Ahem . . . or the camera could have just reflected the light directly above . . . I think the thing about orbs is funnier, though . . . I mean, there's at least 4 in that picture in no particular order and stuff . . . hehe. Alright, I'd best let you out of my room now . . . I mean, I'd love to keep you all and all that, but your families would probably worry and stuff. Heh . . .


So yeah, thanks for visiting. It was fun showing you guys around. Heh . . . from what I understand, I've been inciting similar ideas for other people to do with their cameras for this summer, so that's gotta make me feel good.

Anyway, the "real" album of the higher-quality room pictures can be found At this link here if anyone's interested. That done, I guess we're done with this fun little excursion into another aspect of the world that is SomeGuy . . . but that's not all! Here's a quick, fun shot of something in my basement, but OUTSIDE of my room:

LIGHTSABERS!!! A veritable cache of plastic weapons!!! Some have working batteries, some do not. Also, my jackass friends broke my first Darth Maul Lightsaber in their "playing" that year, so you'll notice it's actually in two halves in that pile . . . ironic and funny in one way, friggin' annoying in another, considering how expensive it was. And yeah, there's a Gondorian sword and "Sting" in there as well (I used Sting in that production of "Taming of the Shrew"!). I recently saw a plastic Anduril toy in the Toys R Us the other day, so I might need to get that . . . . . you'll also see my Games Workshop painting stuff in that top corner . . . . . . alright, enough of these pictures. I guess I should start writing some articles now, ne?

minna-san, joy geen!
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Thursday, May 26, 2005

   THE ROOM: missing posters, a night table, and a spear-like device

Yeah . . . I need to get a "Fellowship of the Ring" poster. I think it's funny that the flash obscured Legolas the way it did, actually . . . not sure why . . .


We shall call this one the "important" night table. So yeah, top drawer is shirts, middle drawer is . . . sweaters, I think, and bottom is whatever the heck else . . . mostly uniform-type shirts and stuff (including all the ugly-assed Superstore promotion shirts . . .). On top is my clock radio which I think might be on the fritz (I don't think the alarm for "setting 1" works anymore (and look! It's 11:44!) . . . next to that is a little extendable backscratcher (because you never know). Then there's the Scott Paper tissue box - now consider this: how long ago was it that Spider-Man 2 promotions ended? Hehe . . . so yes, I have been working at that box of tissues for a while now. Which makes sense, considering it's only being used by me at a fraction of the day and all. And . . . we'll leave it at that, we'll say.


Here's the long shot of my southeast corner. You can see the three posters there, the next long thing of drawers . . . and yeah, the other weapons. They're in a box because, well, it just works better that way. The two flat boxes behind the things are the sword boxes for the geem. Oh, just since I had to handle this question myself, the "horizontal" posters went into the corners so as to be above the lamps. Makes sense, huh? Anyway, let's zoom in!


Got that Shaolin Monk poster when a group of them came to Vancouver to do a show where they broke things on themselves and stuff to show how powerful they were - it was cool, especially when they broke stuff over their heads. Hehe. Above that is a Star Wars Photomosaic (those things are cool) and next to it is a standard Darth Maul poster. So the two weapon-type things . . . one's a long "southern" staff that I don't use (my bro's old stick), and the other is a spear-like device. I call it that because frankly, as a spear it sucks. Chinese spears are made to be thin and flexible, and are generally thinner than a regular staff. This, then, is a stick with a spearhead on top of it. Thus, I was sad when my brother took the GOOD spears to his place for display even though he rarely ever used spears back in the olden days . . . jerk.


And so we come to the east and final wall of my room. I scavenged the mirror from a corner of the house once we finished moving stuff around some months ago - it's much nicer than the old mirror I had scavenged from acorner of the house years prior. So yeah, nine drawers . . . to be honest, half of them are still empty because frankly, I just didn't know what to do with so many drawers! I'm working on it, though . . . along the top are a couple photos: on the left is an album of grad night pictures, then there's a souvenier photo from a roller coaster, and on the right in the "nice" frame is my grad night photo with people from my table. Since they didn't give me allowance to show them, you may look at them blurry and from afar . . . but, if you're keen-eyed, I'm at the top-right, and "The Girl" is next to me in the light blue dress,practically framed by everyone else around her. Lucky girl, huh? Anyway, this wall and surface is very bare because I INTEND to have photos and stuff on these . . . of course, I have none to put up so far . . . . . I'm working on it, though, I hope.


Jikai: My closet, my feet, and a shot from outside my room!
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Wednesday, May 25, 2005

   THE ROOM: The Rest of the West, and a Touch of the South
At this point the room slowly gets less interesting - all the gadgets are on the other half of the room. Here on it's just more posters and where I sleep, which is probably less interesting than it actually sounds. Ah well . . .



The bottom shelf of that "shrine" shelf that I REALLY need to work on . . . so yes, here are the CDs in my room, as opposed to the ones above or in the car. Now that the aniki has moved out, I guess I have more reason to buy CDs that he had, like all those U2 CDs . . . somethin' to think about . . . so yes, you'll notice that they're divided by cassette tapes (again) into three sections: music-by-artist, music-by-soundtrack (including those created by myself), and comedy CDs (I need to buy Adam Sandler . . .). So yeah, I love soundtracks. And, now that I know of a great place to get anime/VG music, I think I'll be getting more! And yes, don't forget that FFVII's on the desk . . .


Here's the last of the west wall, including the beginning of the south wall. That cabinet-thingy is where the fuse box for the house is - maybe the room was originally not meant to be a bedroom, but meh. This is probably the best time to talk about that night table (which has maybe half of one drawer used). The phone on it is connected to the house's second line - complicates my life a great deal, seeing as I rarely use the phone for extended periods of time. My brother used to use it a lot . . . me, not so much . . . . . I say that it'd be cheaper to cancel it, but my mom feels it's useful and stuff . . . complicates my life, though . . . anyway, the red safe thing has . . . I dunno, a few US bills, some Pesos from my Mexico trip . . . the rest is of old notes from "the third crush". Why those are still in there, I dunno . . . probably too lazy to move 'em anywhere else . . .


My incredible, amazing certificates. They don't have my middle name, so I may rest assured that stalkers still have a ways to go seeing as there are probably about 5000 James Leungs in Vancouver alone. Heh. Anyways, let's see . . . top left says that I have a Canadian Scholarship Trust plan that my parents had paid into for the past seventeen/eighteen years. Top middle says I've graduated high school. Top right says I was a good band student in grade 9 (first person of my year to get one when they first started implementing this thing, so hey). Bottom left says I kicked ass at that Fermat math test (remember the medal?), probably for being in some top percentage of people or something. Bottom right says that I was an after-class tutor in grade 12 and clocked in at least 10 hours (though I clocked in many more). I dunno, I liked tutoring, even though half the time it was for courses that I sucked at . . . still don't think I'd make a good teacher, though. And yeah, there's probably other less-cool certificates underneath those ones, but I didn't have any more frames (not that they were worth showing anyway).


And here's the pulled back full shot of the south wall. Heh, I think it's cool how the mirror on the east wall reflected the camera flash, since the open closet door probably blocked off that one half of it - it's neat to me, anyway. So let's see . . . going by the placement of the blankets and pillows . . . . . there isn't a whole lot one can say about my sleeping habits, other than that clearly it's just me in there at night in bed (saddening, I'm sure . . . psh).


And we'll end today's tour with the beginning of the wall-crawl. At the top right of the wall is an old "Canadian Armed Forces" poster I probably got in grade 3 or 4 when some people came to school. Well, back in those days I wasn't quite as interested in the military as I am now (I should really do something worthwhile with that interest, perhaps . . .). So yeah, it sat rolled up in my closet for years and years, and the crumples in it show that fact. I think the silhouette directly to the left of the world there is a Bren Gun, for those in the know. Other than that . . . I don't think there's an asian on that poster, which is a shame . . . there's the guy in the red hat, I know, but he's probably first nations more than anything . . . ah well. Hehe, guess that gives me more incentive to join the reserves or something, ne? Hehe . . . . .


Jikai: Missing posters, a night table, and a spear-like device!
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