Aside from the creative development and exercise of one’s own calming techniques, is there really any life lesson to be learned from dedicating and striving for two hours on the world’s most impossible software (MS Word) to achieve the “correct” academic formatting for a paper?

I am still computer-less, though not for lack of trying.  The last four weeks have involved various companies and distributors sending me all the wrong parts to assemble together my non-functioning computer.  I can’t say I’m thrilled.  In fact, now that my professors are asking why a graduate student doesn’t have a computer of her own, I am downright frustrated.  I have spent more time on call waiting than I did writing this post.

Today, after calling a company again to complain that they had sent me the wrong part for the second time, at last, I understand the feeling of empowerment.  The moments are intoxicating, strengthening, and all so more sensational when you know, without a doubt, that you did nothing wrong at all.

Except perhaps have ordered the product in the first place.

The gmail music player produces better music file sound than my winamp.

Today, here is the music of a quintet from [Eminence Symphony Orchestra] (previously mentioned [here]) and Final Fantasy miscellany.  Still thinking of finding the direct path to joining them.  Still thinking of how I can turn into [Hiroaki Yura].

If you weren’t aware that these melodies were from video games, an anime, and a soundtrack to a novel, would you have thought that they were composed for such?  Be honest…

Tracks: (all files uploaded onto zshare.net. Music is rightful property of the artists. I don’t own any of these…Please buy their music and support them.)

+ [Dash] (Romeo x Juliet) – Hitoshi Sakimoto
- performed by members of the Eminence Symphony Orchestra
- Short, but very fun to play.  I don’t remember it from the series at all, but this version is charming and has an odd ending.

+ [The Fall of Darkness] (Kirite) – Yasunori Mitsuda
- performed by members of the Eminence Symphony Orchestra
- Kirite is an irresistible album.  I recently arranged this piece for Select Start and was sincerely afraid that we would read through it once and then forget about it.  After all, from a market standpoint, the piece is risky, being from an unfamiliar not-video game.  However, the opposite happened and after two readings, they actually really wanted to put some solid work into it.  So we’ll see how far this goes!

+ [Estrelas] – Nobuo Uematsu featuring Risa Ohki
- from the Final Fantasy: Love Will Grow vocal album, sung to the melody of “Gilbert’s Harp” from Final Fantasy IV

+ [Cosmos] (Dissidia : Final Fantasy) – Your Favorite Enemies
- Yet another strangely resolved piece.  Interesting lyrics.

Happy second birthday to little pocket universe!!

It certainly doesn’t feel like it’s been that long since I still haven’t learned to take good care of you…I promise promise promise to be better from now on.

Editing means that the five hundred words around this one sentence were deleted.

I can’t move onto my current Taiwan trip without finishing up on my USA travels so still being very slow. Please pardon the dust…or lack thereof.

Congratulations to the University of Florida for winning a second NCAA basketball championship in a row….and against Ohio State University, no less.

I do feel somewhat bad for Ohio State…Someone from my school will probably hurt me for my sympathy.

Watching the UF basketball team play was quite something. There is such an air of cohesiveness about them. My roommate commented that when you win a championship the first time, it’s probably good athletics mixed with a lot of luck. But when you win two times in a row, you know that those guys are some real athletes and a darn good team.

So here’s to you, boys of the University of Florida basketball team. You really earned this one.

However, when I turned to look, it was not one of my roommates or anyone that I knew, but a guy, covering his face with his lifted shirt, and trousers dropped, wagging his penis at me through the window.  I turned away and ignored him while he stayed there for at least., just wagging away, another minute before walking away.  I was too scared to pick up the phone to call the police or wake up my very burly roommate.  I didn’t want to move lest I provoke him to do anything.

But the image in the corner of my eye of a guy standing right up against my window and waving his appendage at me was enough to rattle me for the entire night and still into today.  I couldn’t move from that spot on the sofa or look towards the window for at least fifteen minutes after he walked away, and didn’t even walk towards that same wall where my computer was plugged into to unplug it for fear that he was still lurking nearby.  Instead, I yanked the cord from where I sat.

I couldn’t sleep, but must have dozed off at some point because I woke up late for my class.  As I walked out my front door and towards the apartment complex office to report the incident, any male that I saw whether or not they resembled the – erm- “attacker” (I guess), I felt a small tremor of nervousness.  The guy could be almost anyone I run into today or tomorrow or the day after that.
These kinds of people make me so negative about humanity.  I am comforted by the thought that I have kind and caring male friends with whom I feel so utterly and completely safe around.  But if they can’t keep the fear from striking, still, when the incident happens and they aren’t there.   When something like this happens to you alone, the feeling of alone-ness is so strongly prevalent that, as a friend of mine who has gone through something similiar said, “…you feel embarrassed almost.”

Despite the overwhelming support I’ve gotten from people that I’ve told about this, and the strangely humourous reactions some people have suggested to me, I still feel this odd fear of going home.  It it more than possible that this incident was purely random, there’s also that possibility that the person will come back.  What kind of sick person does something like this?

Well, even though pretty much all of you that read this blog are guys,  I think that it’s important that everyone is aware that there ARE people out there that do fracked up things like this and that they have to be stopped.  Tell your friends: it’s not funny – it’s sick and full grounds for getting your precious package stamped on by the entire female population of this planet.

University of Florida FTW! YAAAAY!!!!

Okey. So I totally gave away my location there. But it’s worth it. For once, I am feeling the slightest hint of an overall-school (meaning all of the university, not just the music school) pride.

There was this excitement in the air ALL DAY and I couldn’t get my brain to wrap around the possibility of us winning, but we freaking trampled them and it was amazing.

People were setting off fireworks for every touchdown/score, but they didn’t set any off for the last two scores. My roommate thinks that they ran out because they didn’t expect such a high score.

What a “Cinderella story” eh?

Totally exciting night, even if I was watching the game by myself for the entire first three quarters.

School people just might be super crazy for a while…

Part of me wished I’d was partied and joined in on all the craziness all over Gainesville…but most of me is okey with the calm quiet and observant night I had.

What is it about sports that makes it so unifying?
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As you can see, got a custom banner up. It looks a lot prettier than I expected it to turn out so I’m rather pleased with the outcome. Image from Yukiru Sugisaki’s Megami Kohousei.