Wii :D

[mood : excited
last song: Merii - Japanese Modernist
last anime: D.Gray-Man #33
last J-drama: Gokusen #12 FINAL]

Today I got my package containing the Wii Zapper with Link's Crossbow training, so it's just in time for Sinterklaas [ which is today also ;) ]
The game is not all that special, but that zapper is really cool! Now I can finally play Resident Evil: Umbrella Chronicles with a gun! :P
I have been trying to unlock stuff by playing on hard mode, but ATM I only have the first 2 missions cleared with an S ranking...

Yesterday I had my last normal Japanese lesson for this course. Next week will be a review followed by a test, while the week after that we'll be having dinner in a Japanese restaurant in Utrecht. I think I'll try and learn as much words as possible, but I'm not really worried about the test...

Kuruma

It's been 7 years since I got my drivers license but from august 2006 till august 2007 was actually the first year that I've really driven a lot. When I bought my car last year it had 12.500KM on the counter and when I was driving to my Japanese course in Utrecht it passed the 20.000 KM so I guess I've done my part in polluting the enviroment ;)
The years before I think I might have driven a car 4 or 5 times [under supervision though] so this year was really a boost for my confidence as a driver :D

Nowadays I'm in a traffic jam about twice a week [to Utrecht and to Rotterdam] and the most annoying thing I've come across are those Audi, Beamer and Merc drivers. If they're they are that rude at home as they are on the road, I feel sorry for their wives [yes, 95% of those pigs are male]

Driving on the freeway is not difficult at all.I kinda like the speed [120KM/H is still max], but some people just have to pass me with 150KM/H... May they all crash against a tree... Saves the world a lot of trouble and makes the traffic jams decrease, ne?
So freeways are ok, but in the city can be a disaster... pedestrians and bicycles coming from every direction and then there are annoying traffic-lights :S
But as you can see, I still live and so does my little blue car [I won't mention the "Iron Maiden" accident, because none of the people that were there are reading this anyway :D]

I finished playing Resident Evil after one day or so and now I'm trying to get an S-Score on every level while waiting for my WII-Zapper [release december 7th] That scorpion [lobsters look different, you know :P ] will be the least of your worries. Just wait until you get in Part 3 [that is the Resident Evil 3 part]... Ok... Time to be quiet or I'll spoil the game ;)

Mata ne :D

Naraka 19

I just finished watching a movie called Naraka 19 [dei yuk dai sup gau tsang]
and although I usually watch either Japanese movies or some Korean ones, this one was Chinese. Oh well, subtitles work miracles. Chinese is still a weird sounding language and Japanese has a much better sound anyway :D

The movie was about the 18 gates of hell. It's supposed to be in the Chinese culture and they have a gate for every sin. I really thought there were just seven sins [gluttony, greed, lust, wrath, envy, sloth, pride]
Anyway it was a nice movie, nothing special but entertaining enough to watch.

I also got a package today. It contained Resident Evil: Umbrella Chronicles for my Wii [which is to be released on November 30th]. I'm not complaining, but as usual I couldn't help myself so I played it for hours and hours and hours. I kinda had something else to do, but I'll fix that tomorrow [hopefully]

As for my comment on last post's comment [sounds weird]: I know there are several places here in Holland to study Japanese. I do mine in Utrecht which is like an hour by car, but I think there were also courses in Den Haag. I just chose Utrecht because I heard some positive reactions and I like Utrecht better than Den Haag anyway... If you don't have the time [or just want to do it on your own pace] try self-study. I did that about 1 year ago and I'm amazed the words that come popping back up now that I'm learning Japanese again. Somewhere in my mind I guess some of them were still there...

Some things

Today we met our new teacher for Japanese 2. He will be taking over because Kibuchi-san would have had 4 classes next term and that was a bit too much for her I guess. [so WE were sacrificed :O ]
Anyway, Japanese is going fine at the moment [good thing that SOME things ARE going fine, ne]

I seem to have [at least] one curious reader [!] and I just wanted to say that I have no problem explaining my story, but it would be a bit much to put it on here. I also said that the hobbies post was the last one for a while [until I have more stuff to write about that]. And yes I DO have a car [kuruma ga motte imasu! -> sorry just came back from Japanese course]. It's a blue Suzuki Swift with a cute Naruto doll inside :P

Something else I want to mention is a movie called Suicide Circle. I recently gave that movie to a friend of mine and he found it disgusting. Sure it is a bit gory, but I remember I was in a half-shock-state all morning [gory movies first thing in the morning is a no-go] and really made me think... Unfortunately I can't say anything about it, cause that would spoil the movie. If somebody decides to watch it, I wanna have a chat with them [and if they can't find the movie I'll share mine]

That is all... おやすみ　なさい　[oyasumi nasai -> good night]

Hobbies vs Passions vs Addictions (3)

Ok... this will be the last post with this subject for a while because I don't know what to write about it anymore...

Putting all this time in my addictions is the only way ATM for me to feel happy I guess. Maybe not happy, but content. I think I made a wrong decision somewhere along the way to end up here and I can't seem to get out of it [or I don't see a need to it, because I'm doing all those things to get my mind off it]
It's not that doing all these things is hurting my social life, cause it's more like filling up a space where there could be a social life [or used to be like 5 years ago]

It's not like I live completely isolated [although I do think I could live as a hermit as long as I have an active internet connection :O ]
I sometimes miss the days where I would do stuff in the weekends and just have fun with others, but there's so much I wanna see now, that it doesn't really bother me.
Enough pessimistic thoughts already... Next subject!

About that anime marathon. I have been wanting to have an anime marathon with someone but she lives near Groningen nowadays and that's a looooooong drive :S

So if anybody else wants to volunteer just comment with a place and an anime :P

Sonata Arctica

Finally a concert in Tilburg again :P
013 is actually next to a big parking space and although I was there 30 minutes before it began, the L shirts were already SOLD OUT!
Not that it's a big problem, cause I've worn XL shirts for a long time so I'm used to swim in my shirts a little bit [maybe I just need to work out more]

Anyway the bands that were playing were Ride the Sky, Epica and Sonata Arctica
I don't think it was sold out, but there were a lot of people [in groups of 2+ and me being alone as usual]

Ride the Sky made me think of the band Jorn, although Jorn sounds better. They didn't really get the crowd going, so Sonata walked across the stage a couple of times. I never saw something like that before, but it was nice :D

Epica was up next and I love Epica :D They always have really heavy listening songs and deep lyrics compared to the new After Forever [Epica was a band formed by the lead guitarist from After Forever, if you didn't know] I've seen them several times now and every show I've seen is great!

Finally I could see Sonata playing! I've bought the first album back in 1999 and this was actually the first time I've seen them live. They played about 3 or 4 songs from their new album Unia [which is a lot softer than their earlier releases] and fortunately a lot of their old stuff :P
There was a sort of intermission where the singer divided the crowd in 3 groups and assigned a drum component to each. He called it drumming in public and it was really fun to see.

Next concert will be uhm... Nightwish on March 21st 2008, but I also want to go to Apocolyptica [December 10 2007] and Helloween [January 7 2008] but I'm not sure about going yet [mainly because I have to go by myself again]

Hobbies vs Passions vs Addictions (2)

Since somebody actually read the previous post with this title and wrote a comment with a question in it, I guess I have to answer :D

I searched wiki for a definition of addiction:
"An addiction is a recurring compulsion by an individual to engage in some specific activity, despite harmful consequences to the individual's health, mental state or social life."
~wikipedia

So knowing this, are my "addictions" harmfull for my health?
- the things you watch are probably bad for your eyes and music probably bad for my ears [all long term]
Mental state?
- I'd go mad with boredom is the power should be off more than 1 day :O
- Maybe I'd start reading or start zazen [which I have to do for Iaido anyway]...
- OH! Iaido [ -> katana ] practice outside [only in summer though, cause now it's to freaking cold for my shinigami outfit]

Social life?
- You mean I'd actually have one if I'd stop doing all those things?! :O
- Write that one down for my new years wish 2008

I'm gonna write my Sonata Arctica review tomorrow, cause right now the red bull effect is sooo gone...