aNoThEr pOeM

I have not written here for a while because finals are coming up, so I have to start getting ready for them.

Again, I found a poem in my computer. (How many poems did I write on this thing, anyway?!) Unfortunately, I don’t have a title for this one.

I enjoyed the simple luxuries of life
Pursuing my future without breaking a stride
Abruptly, I had to leave it all
And settle for a place miles away from home

Suddenly my plans were threatened
Will I be able to continue what has always been planned?
With my origins fighting over the smallest things
I’m afraid that a scar could form from a simple sting

I could feel reality sting my eyes
Anxiety surfacing every sleepless night
Always asking myself, “Can I make it,
Will I have the will to fight through this shit?”

Nothing to do but sit tight
And watch as fate unfolds my life
I just hope that the wait is worthwhile
Because I can’t keep on masking a fake smile

mEmOriEs

I was supposed to finish my sociology reaction paper (yes, unfortunately, I’m not done with that effin’ thing yet), but I found myself lurking around my computer. Then, I found this file titled “diary,” and I remember writing a bunch of stuff in it. So I opened it and skimmed through some of it, then I ended up on the last entry: a poem.

I do remember writing this, but I can’t quite recall what my thoughts were when I wrote it. My best bet is homesickness. I mean, everyday, all I ever think about is going back home (LOL. I know, I’m such a baby).

It’s kind of weird, though. The first thing I thought of when I read this was “love” or something related to it. It just gives off that kind of feeling.

Actually, I used to have a notebook (since senior year of high school) where I wrote all my poems. I wonder where it is now. It was pretty neat, I might say. But, sad to say, I don’t write that much nowadays. Can’t find any inspiration for it, I guess.

Oh, uhm, the title’s not really “Memories,” but it kept repeating the word, so I might as well use it as the title.

********

It’s so hard to not have someone to talk to
It’s so hard that I feel like my head’s gonna spilt in two
Will I ever be able to express
These feelings forever suppressed
Or will I just have to settle with the memories left…
In me

I try to reach out, open up, be heard
Asking myself, “Is it worth it to be ignored?”
So I end up holding back
In a dark corner I quietly sat
Whatever happened to the person that was once in my…
Memories

Should I forget who I am to adjust?
When all who knew are now the past?

Memories, don’t leave me
Oh memories, please help me
Don’t hide at the back of my head
Help me find someone to have our needs met
Oh memories, stay here beside me

********

I know I wrote this and everything, but I kind of find the “…” thing funny. I don’t know how I came up with that idea. I don’t even know WHY I came up with it.
Oh well.

YUI [I Loved Yesterday]

With the hint given in the recent “Laugh Away” PV, it has finally been confirmed about a week ago that the rumors about YUI’s 3rd album are true. The next album will be titled “I Loved Yesterday.”

Remember the scene where Hayashi Kento was sleeping/resting/daydreaming/sound tripping (I don’t know how you call it) in his room? Here’s a screen shot to help you remember.

Hope that refreshed your memories.

Moreover, Sony also released the CD covers for the album.

Normal Edition

Limited Edition

Personally, I like the limited edition cover better. But that’s just me.

She should start making those cool CMs, like what she did for “Can’t Buy My Love.” That was nice.

wHy gO tO cOLLeGe? (part ONE)

Ok, so this is why I have not posted anything for the last few days. I have been working on my Sociology reaction paper, and this was the topic that I had chosen. I am gradually working my way through it, and, for now, I had just finished writing about the three (of many) reasons why people should consider going to college.

Of course, I’m all about working my arse off to earn a living, but, of course, I can’t help but dream of something bigger: graduating college. We were actually given various kinds of topics for this reaction paper, but considering that I am a college student, I think it was only practical to write about something I can directly relate to.

Anyway, here’s the first reason why people should go to college.

Reason number one: you get to learn stuff other than academics.

A person can learn things other than academics when he/she decides to invest in a higher education. This is because postsecondary institutions are not just for obtaining your degree or certificate; it is also the best place for an individual to be a much rounded person. A college education can shape your communication skills, expand your knowledge base, make you methodical and organized, and expose you to a whole new world of learning—all of which are essential for a smooth transition into the working world. For example, in high school, teachers communicate knowledge and facts, even draw connections to lead you through the thinking process; college professors, however, expect you to think about and synthesize seemingly unrelated topics. In addition, because testing is usually infrequent, may be cumulative, and usually covers large amounts of materials, you—not the professor—needs to organize the material to prepare for the test, unlike in high school, wherein testing is frequent and usually covers small amounts of material. A postsecondary course might even just have 2 or 3 tests in a semester! Through these experiences, you learn to take the initiative to find the best method that works best for you, which might be through the way you organize your notes or how much time you spend on studying. When you start working, these qualities can help you work well under pressure and avoid procrastination.

The next two will be coming up. I just want to make up for the days I have not made any posts because I’m kind of really serious about this blog thing. *nod* *nod*

wHy gO tO cOLLeGe? (part TWO)

Second reason, which I guess is the MAIN reason why a lot of people go to college: MONEY, baby.

Most people pursue higher education in hopes of having a more comfortable standard of living. Education opens the doors to many things like multiple jobs, career choices, the chance to further education at any point in life, and the option of teaching others what you have learned. In such a highly advanced and expensive world as we have these days, this is not an easy task, especially considering that competition among job-seekers have grown significantly for the past decade. More and more specialized jobs are being created, and those who have the proper skills and credentials are the only ones who can be considered for these jobs. Going to college helps people in this aspect because it qualifies them in the fields that they are most interested in, and it can also properly train them to qualify and get the job. With this specialization of skills also comes a specialization of wages. For members of all demographic groups, average earnings increase measurably with higher levels of education. In an inter-provincial comparison of graduate salaries conducted by Alberta Learning, postsecondary education is one of the best investments you can make, especially if you’re living in Alberta. Postsecondary graduates earn more money over their lifetime, experience fewer and shorter periods of unemployment, and have improved health and overall life prospects compared to those with only a high school diploma. While these benefits hold true for graduates in all provinces, the comparison also shows that graduates in Alberta earn among the highest gross salaries in Canada and, when taxes and costs of living are factored in, enjoy the highest take-home pay in the country. The average Alberta university graduate with a bachelor’s degree can expect to earn more than $46,000 a year – the second highest gross salary after Ontario. When taxes and costs of living are taken into consideration, the salary of a university bachelor’s graduate living in Alberta is the highest in Canada at just under $34,000, followed by Ontario at $32,000 and Saskatchewan at just under $31,000. As Albertan politician Dr. Lyle Oberg puts it, “There’s no doubt that post-secondary education is expensive, but there’s also no doubt that it’s worth every penny.”

wHy gO tO cOLLeGe? (part THREE)

Here’s the third reason: higher education benefits the economy.

Finally—and most importantly—if people decide to pursue a higher education, they are economically benefiting both themselves and the individuals that surround them. This means that with the increase of one’s average earnings through his/her investment in postsecondary education (as discussed earlier), the society also enjoys a financial return at the same time. In addition to the increase of widespread productivity, the higher earnings of educated workers generate higher tax payments at the local, state, and federal levels, and consistent productive employment reduces dependence on public income-transfer programs. Of course, this comes with a price. Because the individual outcomes affect others, it is not possible to neatly separate the benefits to individuals from those shared by society as a whole. Take the labour force for an example: unemployment is natural—even considered as healthy—as long as it is regulated. But as all workers benefit from the increased productivity of their coworkers, unemployment causes the most damage to those who are out of a job, resulting to a loss for the entire economy. However, through the increase of wages brought by higher education, the consequent increase in personal income taxes also increases the government’s revenue. With this, the government can provide more public services, such as health benefits and employment insurance, which can address such problems in order to dampen the effects of unemployment.

Wee~ I just need to come up with good introductory and concluding paragraphs, a bibliography, and, well obviously, a title page, and I am all done!

Yey~

生田斗真さんはかわいそうですね~

I was planning to post something about this yesterday, but the god of inspiration did not hit me with any, well, inspiration.

Nevertheless, here it goes!

I was watching the ninth episode of the Japanese drama “ハチミツとクローバー (Hachimitsu to Clover)” when I noticed Ikuta Toma, the guy who plays the main character Takemoto Yuta, all drenched in the “rain.”

But first of all, let me rant about the scene. So there was this whole fake rain thing that was so obvious. You can actually see the fake raindrops because of the bad lighting, making the fabricated raindrops somehow appear longer than they would if they were real. I mean, if you’re going to create some rain for a scene, at least use a decent water hose to do it! While I was watching the scene, I can’t help but imagine Ikuta Toma riding his bike and doing his thing, while the camera crew rode on a big truck in front of him, with one or three guys trying to get a hold of this big ass electric fan thingy. In addition, there were also a few people who were figuring out the water hose, trying to control how much water came out of it. Did they really expect the viewers to “think” that it was actually raining?

Anyway, this post is not about that. It’s about what Ikuta Toma did FOR the scene.

I felt really sorry for the guy. It was shot in freaking winter, for heaven’s sake! And he was doing the scene on a mountain, probably, and there was still SNOW on the roadside. You could actually feel the cold as you watch it.

Check out the pictures.

Look at the right-hand side of the picture: SNOW.
And at the upper left-hand corner, the uber-long-obviously-fake raindrops I was talking about.

Here’s a bigger and clearer view of the snow.

(Sorry about the quality. It was a spur-of-the-moment thing, so I did not bother on taking more decent screencaps.)

AND HE’S WEARING SHORTS TOO!

I do hope he’s getting a really good pay to do all this. I bet he was irritated to see how those long hours of having needles pierce through his skin, especially on his bare legs, be only worth at least five minutes of screen time.

Wait, there’s more! (LOL. I sound like those TV shopping channel voice-overs.) The drama did not do so good on that episode as well. From an already low rating of 8.0, it went lower to 7.4, and even lower on the tenth episode: a rating of only 7.0! It’s really sad how underrated this drama has been. It’s not a fantastic drama, and it doesn’t even come close to the animé nor the manga, but, still, I can actually say it is a good one. I’ve seen dramas a lot worse than this, yet they get so much higher ratings. What’s up with that? Oh yeah~ The crazy fangirls.

But my issue with that is a whole new different story, and thus a whole new different blog entry. I’m just gonna have to settle on this for now.

I hope you don’t catch pneumonia, 生田斗真さん!

tHe eViLs oF tHe iNtErNeT

I was planning to stay in school for at least 3 more hours after my classes were over to start on my studying for Macroeconomics. We have a midterm tomorrow, so it’s one of those final chances to redeem the credits I lost in the earlier half of the term. But then, I just decided to do the studying at home. I knew it would be harder though, especially considering that my mom’s home (and her constant nagging) and, worse, there’s DSL.

These are the times when I think to myself how much I really love hate the internet. It is so addictive, and yet so destructive. I know most of you probably understand what I’m trying to say here. There are so many more interesting stuff I find on the net just by clicking on some links than flipping through the pages of my sociology or economics books.

Probably, the problem lies in me, though. I’m the one who gets easily tempted by all those fun stuff over the internet that I end up neglecting most of the things that I should do.

And before you let your minds drift away as to what really catches my attention on the internet, I’d like to inform you that I am not one of those internet gamers, internet porn addicts, chat-ers, facebook-ers, or the dedicated bloggers (and putting them all in one sentence does not, IN ANY WAY, also put them in the same magnitude of this so-called “internet addiction”). I’m more of the google-r type. I just google whatever comes into my mind and that’s how I spend hours sitting in front of the computer.

But, for now, I’m going to try to stop that. Well, just until finals are over, I guess (which is more than a month away!). And, hopefully, tomorrow I can start on making outlines again for my other courses so I can be ready for the upcoming finals. For now, I just have to concentrate on my Macroeconomics midterm tomorrow and pray that I read every question carefully because that’s how I usually fail my exams. I miss a word or two because of time pressure. Stupid me.

That’s about it!

And, oh yeah, I still hate DST. I woke up late today because my biological clock is still not accustomed to the +1 hour thing. Hopefully, I’ll get rid of this problem by tomorrow.

dAyLiGhT sAviNgS tiMe

Good thing I had my cellphone to remind me about that.

I was talking to a friend early this morning about a bunch of stuff, but when I saw the upper-right hand corner of the computer screen, I saw that it was already 3 A.M.!

To suddenly see that it was already 3 in the morning gave me a bit of a shock. I swore that it was still past 1 o’clock the last time I looked at the computer clock. I checked my wristwatch, and it did say 2 A.M. I then took out my mobile and it said right on the screen: “DST TODAY! +1 HOUR!”

There goes my good night’s sleep.

So, yeah, I hate this part of the DST because I have to add another hour, so that means an hour less of my Sunday.

I don’t know, I’ve always thought that DST starts on October and ends on April. Now, where I got that notion, I do not know.

But I like it this way, though. The sun now sets at around 7 P.M., so that means I can stay in school and do most of my studying. Weeee~

But I still hate the fact that I had an hour less worth of sleep. >.<

sKiPpiNg sChOoL

I skipped school today.

Well, that is not really something new. I do not usually go to school on Fridays even though I have classes on Microeconomics and Macroeconomics. The only thing different for today is the quiz that I was supposed to write in Macroeconomics. The funny thing is I was all ready for it. Well, not entirely ready, but, still, I was pretty confident about it. I even finished my outlines for the chapter the quiz was going to be based on.

See, I told you I was ready. I was just stupid enough not to take it.

I was half-asleep in the morning when I was contemplating whether I should go or not. I would sit up on my bed, then go lie down. Then sit up, then go lie down again. (Don’t look at me like that! I know most of you do the same thing every morning.)

So I abruptly decided NOT to go.

Besides, our teacher came up with this thing regarding the credits we get for the quizzes she gives us. She gives us four quizzes for the whole semester, and the best three out of those four will be the only ones credited. So, basically, we can miss one quiz as long as we write the other three (and do good on them), without worrying about a lesser grade.

But I am NOT (definitely not) promoting “school-skipping”.

Even though I seldom go to class, I can still say that I am usually ready for it. I always sometimes do advance studying, and I have all the outlines to prove it. I even do most of my assignments beforehand so that I do not have to do it at the very last minute.

So, if you do plan to skip, make sure you have tackled all the consequences for it. Make sure that you will not lose anything, or if you do, it should be at the minimum level, and be sure that you will be able make up for it.

Or better yet, JUST DO NOT DO IT.

(This post is pretty ironic. I skipped school, and here I am talking about NOT skipping school. Geez)