Friday, April 20, 2012

Productive Day

This is what I felt like today.

There are different phases people go through when the Finals week is coming as I have described before. The worrying, the procrastinating, and finally the acceptance and real work. Thanks to my group members being very forward about our final project, I actually got some real work done early for once. I mean I've done work early before, but it's always a nice spectacle to be seen when it does happen. I even wrote out two more cover letters to send out for a job as well, I just haven't actually sent them yet lol..

It's funny how some of the things you need to do are prioritized in such bizarre ways. My applications for internships and jobs are by far more important than preparation for an exam, because once you get your foot in the door- you're set for life (unless you screw up of course). Since I'm a Information Systems Major, I had to do case work and develop a system proposal for a company. I like the project since it seems pretty legit. I mean according to my senpais (grads) the work we've done in class is very very relevant to work in the real world. Hearing that from an actual analyst at a financial investment company is very promising, but of course landing a job like that will be tough.

So while I'm working on that project with my group mates, there's also an odd Sudoku paper I've got to write where I need to explain how I systematically pick apart the puzzle and solve it. I never really liked Sudoku but at least now I can finally say that I've completed a Sudoku puzzle. What I'm particularly worried about right now is my Statistics and my Accounting courses. The grading that was done in my stats course is so weird that I just don't know where I stand in that class anymore. The professor tells me that I'm doing fine, but my grades don't look that way, unless the values are all different. As for Accounting I just need to do very well on this Final in order to get by safely, because I bombed my last exam miserably ;_;. Accounting is so painfully boring, it's probably the most tedious thing to prepare for this semester. 


Besides that my friends have gotten so restless that they've decided to try out another game. One of my friends bought Aion in the past but none of us thought it'd be any good (we thought right) but now that its Free to play we figured it would be a fun way to burn some time. I honestly don't know how I got caught up in it but why not... I need to take breaks and try to have some fun anyway so I guess this will be my outlet for the end of the semester.

Wednesday, April 18, 2012

Busy Finals Week

Distractions... Distractions everywhere!

It's that time of year again, the few weeks before finals where everyone starts to become a recluse and do nothing but either worry, complain, or actually study for the finals. Honestly I'm not quite too sure what exactly I did this past week either. It felt like an entire month with what I've been doing.

Wake up -> Goto work -> Hit the bar

I think I mentioned it before in one of my blogs since I've come back, but my friend's awesome extravagant birthday party was last week. It was really fun. I don't even understand why it was so much fun, but I guess when you get so drunk with your friends things are more fun than they should be. I remember just chatting and playing a few games of beer pong. A few of my other friends opted to just smoke A LOT of weed. I mean they must have gone through like 6+ joints in that one night, crazy guys. Towards the end of the party I remember just walking around and eventually hung around my poker buddy who was playing heads up texas hold 'em with like $300 on two tables lol. I couldn't believe he was playing with that much money as he drank, but somehow he actual made a profit which was pretty mind blowing haha. Then once most of the crowd left I vaguely remember playing a 1v1 game of Starcraft 2 with him, and it only hit me then that I was probably going to pass out cold. To avoid sleeping on the floor I walked over to a bed and just fell over and passed out. I didn't know at first but as morning came I realized that I was sleeping next to a girl I hardly even knew, and she kept stealing the damn blanket... My buddies teased me for sleeping next to her the day after but it's really not much of a deal.

I wish I had played more beer pong, beer pong is a great way to get to know people and socialize since it breaks the ice for you. I remember just walking up to people and just talking to them at the last party, but it's a lot easier to do when you're more sober. Plus my Asian glow is very noticeable and I feel like it's kind of unattractive lol. But all in all it was fun, it's just a shame I couldn't get to know people more. There will be more opportunities at least.

Now I'm sitting in my school's library again, trying to study, but of course I am distracted by this and various other forms of media. I also still haven't heard back from companies I applied for internships for, so I hope they at least respond to me sometime before the semester ends.

Monday, April 9, 2012

Anime Boston 2012

So I just got back from going on a massive shopping spree during the three day duration of Anime Boston. I must say it is nice to have money at this point in life lol. Yes... I could have saved that money to pay off debts but man you just have to let go sometimes.

I bought a TON of stuff. I bought 4 volumes of Twin Spica, several artbooks, a bunch of T-Shirts, a few small posters, an autographed poster of Ito Kanako along with her latest album that literally came out a week ago, and three HUGE wallscrolls. I also managed to get a few charms here and there, an awesome Sena bag, specifically designed for convention life if I may add.




These wall scrolls were a lot bigger than I thought they were...

This year's convention was one hell of a harvest for me. My walls are completely decorated with stuff, it's really a great sight. The scrolls make up for their lower quality for their large size. I don't remember the exact measurements but it went along the lines of 44 inches x 30 inches, something like that. Having three of those around my room really made it much more colorful. At times like these when I want to take some pictures for whatever reason it is I wish I had a real camera (Canon). Because my camera phone just isn't all that great.


A medium sized high quality print

Besides the wall scroll I also had several of these smaller prints. They look just fantastic. I think this year I was just very lucky to bump into a dealer that had good connections to getting legitimate merchandise from high level circles in Japan. There was also a Sena artbook that I had bought with some amazing pictures. It really blew away everyone out of the artists alley here in Boston. I kinda felt bad for the artists next to the dealer because me and my friend were just raving about how high quality her goods were. I even got a free print because of my referrals =). 

A K-ON! Music Box
(lol @konata in the background)

The K-ON! music box that I bought was probably the most endearing piece of merchandise I took away from the convention. It plays a really melancholic tune with the traditional chimes from a typical old music box. That chime in conjunction with one of the tamer songs from K-ON! makes me feel really relaxed, it's quite nice. 

My gaming setup and MLG Mousepad

While I was taking pictures around my room I decided to take a picture of my desk as well. It's been a while since I took a pic of it, because I remember doing so a long time ago to post it on a teamliquid thread where everyone showed off their gaming setups haha. I'm pretty happy with what I have got right now. I've got an Insignia speaker setup for some awesome surround sound when  I play Starcraft or watch Starcraft. 

In fact on the monitor is the IPL tournament broadcasting live. I was in the middle of putting up my posters while I watched it. The keyboard is one of my prides as well, it's a mechanical keyboard. I bought it for $129, pretty hefty price for just a keyboard but it was well worth it. There are definitely better alternatives out there, but I just settled for the slightly cheaper Black Widow. It changed my typing experience forever, people's reviews for mechanical keyboards VS normal regular membrane keyboards are 100% right. You'll never want to go back lol. 

My MLG mousepad is stained with wine and various other foods unfortunately... I'm really disappointed in myself for getting it so dirty, but it's tough not to when you're drunk tbh. I have a ton of pro gamer autographs on it, if it weren't so dirty this mouse pad would be worth quite a lot of money.

Well that's it for now, it's starting to get late so maybe I'll put up the other stuff I bought later. 

Thursday, April 5, 2012

What a Wonderful World!

What a Wonderful World by Asano Inio

So I finally found it. This is the manga full of short stories about how morbid life can be for some people. I couldn't get it off my mind after mulling over it in one blog post a week back. As I said before I left off the manga when it came to a short story about a college student that spent most of her days lazing and occasionally going to work, then at night she would drink, relying on the drink to put her to sleep. What scared me about it was how strikingly similar it was to my own life. The reason why people drink at night after a long day of work or school, is to get their worries off their minds in order to fall asleep safely and soundly. Which is why I drink alone at night, there's a lot of things I worry about.

But really it's just another escape unfortunately- I must admit it. When I finally dug this title back up from the huge library that is mangareader.net, I went straight back to where I left off. The short story was actually shorter than the others, maybe for a reason. It was really anti-climatic, because I was looking for an answer to my anxiety, and my lackluster lifestyle of being laidback as fuck. The answer was really simple I guess. The main character of that story met up with her boyfriend the next morning after a night drinking. The had some small talk, and without any dialogue the girl came to a revelation by herself after reflecting on her own life and the lives of people around her. Finally she turned to her boyfriend and said "I'm going to quit drinking".

It was that simple, just stop drinking. When you drink in the way she and I have been drinking, we're basically running away from "Tomorrow". We're looking for a way to freeze time just so we can live in the present and enjoy our carefree lifestyle. But by doing that, it halts our progress in life ever so slightly, and the more you do it the more you're stunting your own growth. 

So guess what I did last night? I didn't drink. The past week I've been drinking everyday. I missed a few classes because I simply didn't need to attend them. But that's the wrong attitude to have, because again like I said- drinking and not moving forward to your "Tomorrow" is going to stunt your growth, and hell I'll say it, it might even ruin your life. 

Today was an amazing day, it really was. First of all from a dietitians standpoint, I'm not devouring 2 glasses of empty calories so it was great for my diet and my workout. My mind was also not cluttered with thoughts of being lazy, I wanted to do work. It felt great to have some motivation after sitting on my ass all week. Just  now I just wrote out another cover letter and sent my resume to another job opening! Hopefully I land this one...