Current System Configuration: Totally exhausted
Earworms:
-The Seven Angels from Tobias Sammet's Avantasia: The Metal Opera [Power/Epic Metal]. Can't get enough of this song. 14 minutes of sheer epic quality.
-Rise Up by Freedom Call [Power Metal] Something to help spur my tired spirit on.
-Worth It All by Disciple [Christian Rock] Excellent Christian rock song. Disciple is a must for any believer who sings a new song
Sustenance:
[Breakfast] Chocolate oatmeal
[Lunch] Homemade burger steak in mushroom gravy with buttered rice.
[Dinner] Grilled cheese sandwich
[Coffee] Homemade mocha
Current Read:
-Wormwood by G.P. Taylor (Too wasted to read it right now)
To my dismay, I've missed almost an entire week's worth of working out. I've been squeezing my brain working on the lesson module for our next series of grammar lessons, and doing so has not been kind to my sleep schedule. More than once this week I had only been kept awake by caffeine and the grace of God. Today was the worst by far.
I usually enjoy having three classes in succession---I don't forget to say anything in the later classes and I don't do anything for the rest of the day. However, today's lecture was particularly heavy and two of the classes were interrupted by the quake drill we had. As such, I had to cram all my points into the truncated periods. It took quite an effort especially since this lecture required a lot of energy.
The quake drills were not very successful. It took longer than expected to take everyone out of the building, and had it collapsed, certain sections would have perished. <_< style="font-style: italic;">The Seven Angels, some weird lyrics came to mind.
Chorus
We are the Seven
Judgment of Heaven
Why don't we know? We are the angels!
It's revelation, soul castigation!
Fire will burn us away!
My version:
We are the Crammers!
Struggling learners!
Why can't you tell? We're Pisay students!
It's vegetation, procrastination!
Midnight oil burning away!
Ending Coda
You've been fighting for your soul
And sometimes it takes a toll
Hope one day you'll understand
What it means to hold in hand
What they call a fantasy
It is nothing but a key
To the world that now you're in
That they call a wicked dream!
When you're walking on your own
And you think you're all alone
You may feel us from inside
From the other side of LIFE!
My Version:
You've been struggling for your grade
And sometimes your nerves get frayed
Hope one day you'll understand
What it means to hold in hand
What they call Acuity,
It is more than just a key
To the future of your soul
To your glorious destiny!
When your strength is all but gone
And you just can't get that "One"
Call Him and He'll hear your cry,
Rise on eagle's wings and FLY!
Fatigued and drowsy,
Your Black Lion.
Friday, July 07, 2006
Saturday, July 01, 2006
The Return
Current System Configuration: Physical Fitness Mode
Earworms:
-Jin/Shin/Ki -MAN-GOD-MACHINE- by Yuichi Ikusawa [JRock, Kishin Houkou Demonbane OP]
-Ages of Power by Freedom Call [Power Metal]
-Subarashiki Shin Sekai by Flair [JPop/Trance, Namco vs Capcom insert song]
Sustenance:
[Breakfast] Grilled ham and cheese sandwich
[Lunch] Fruit magic's pesto spaghetti and choco-banana shake.
[Dinner] None yet. Antonio's despedida tonight.
[Coffee] Homemade mocha (just ordinary coffee+Swiss Miss mix. I don't have espresso, sadly.)
Current Read:
-Wormwood by G.P. Taylor
My brother's finally coming home tomorrow night. I really miss the guy even if I visited him last summer. It'll be great to have him here again. I guess I always take his presence for granted. Most of us are like that, anyway.
He just graduated from High School in the US. He did pretty well there; he was exempted from practically all his final exams because of his performance. He'll be staying here for about 8 months, as he will leave for Singapore next April. He's most likely going to take up Management and Culinary Studies at Temasek Polytechnic. At least he'll be much easier to visit in Singapore, and as I have plans of eventually working there, it won't be such a big problem.
~~~~
Wormwood has been an interesting read so far. It's not particularly excellent; I find it too dark, the imagery too squalid. Nevertheless, I'm sure it's an accurate portrayal of 18th-century London. My main issue with G.P. Taylor's work is that I find his world view confusing and inconsistent with the Christian ideas that he is trying to present. Of course, his main target audience is the goth demographic, trying to draw them to faith in Jesus Christ through his horror novels. That was certainly clear and present in his previous novel, Shadowmancer, but in Wormwood I'm having trouble seeing who the good guy really is.
There is no clear protagonist, though I see two who are experiencing the story in a similar way: Dr. Sabian Blake, an astronomer and master of the Kabbalah, and his servant girl, Agetta Lamian, a flea-bitten teenage girl with a knack for thievery. Both are caught up in things they do not understand, a web of deception. They both encounter angels who tell them more about the greater scheme of things, although Agetta's angel is a remorseful and disempowered being who had been doomed because he had fallen in love with a demonic sorceress.
The plot seems smooth---the action rises, slowly but surely, through each cryptically-entitled chapter (most of them have Latin or Hebrew titles). As I see it, Wormwood is much more allegorical than Shadowmancer, which was very literal in its treatment of the use of magic and salvation. More to come when I finish the novel.
Earworms:
-Jin/Shin/Ki -MAN-GOD-MACHINE- by Yuichi Ikusawa [JRock, Kishin Houkou Demonbane OP]
-Ages of Power by Freedom Call [Power Metal]
-Subarashiki Shin Sekai by Flair [JPop/Trance, Namco vs Capcom insert song]
Sustenance:
[Breakfast] Grilled ham and cheese sandwich
[Lunch] Fruit magic's pesto spaghetti and choco-banana shake.
[Dinner] None yet. Antonio's despedida tonight.
[Coffee] Homemade mocha (just ordinary coffee+Swiss Miss mix. I don't have espresso, sadly.)
Current Read:
-Wormwood by G.P. Taylor
My brother's finally coming home tomorrow night. I really miss the guy even if I visited him last summer. It'll be great to have him here again. I guess I always take his presence for granted. Most of us are like that, anyway.
He just graduated from High School in the US. He did pretty well there; he was exempted from practically all his final exams because of his performance. He'll be staying here for about 8 months, as he will leave for Singapore next April. He's most likely going to take up Management and Culinary Studies at Temasek Polytechnic. At least he'll be much easier to visit in Singapore, and as I have plans of eventually working there, it won't be such a big problem.
~~~~
Wormwood has been an interesting read so far. It's not particularly excellent; I find it too dark, the imagery too squalid. Nevertheless, I'm sure it's an accurate portrayal of 18th-century London. My main issue with G.P. Taylor's work is that I find his world view confusing and inconsistent with the Christian ideas that he is trying to present. Of course, his main target audience is the goth demographic, trying to draw them to faith in Jesus Christ through his horror novels. That was certainly clear and present in his previous novel, Shadowmancer, but in Wormwood I'm having trouble seeing who the good guy really is.
There is no clear protagonist, though I see two who are experiencing the story in a similar way: Dr. Sabian Blake, an astronomer and master of the Kabbalah, and his servant girl, Agetta Lamian, a flea-bitten teenage girl with a knack for thievery. Both are caught up in things they do not understand, a web of deception. They both encounter angels who tell them more about the greater scheme of things, although Agetta's angel is a remorseful and disempowered being who had been doomed because he had fallen in love with a demonic sorceress.
The plot seems smooth---the action rises, slowly but surely, through each cryptically-entitled chapter (most of them have Latin or Hebrew titles). As I see it, Wormwood is much more allegorical than Shadowmancer, which was very literal in its treatment of the use of magic and salvation. More to come when I finish the novel.
Friday, June 23, 2006
Books and related things
Current System Configuration: First Quarter Storm
Earworms:
-Through the Fire and Flames by Dragon Force [Power Metal]
-Warriors by Freedom Call [Power Metal]
-XTC by Psychic Lover [JRock, Witchblade Anime OP]
Sustenance:
[Breakfast] Oatmeal
[Lunch] Kielbasa, buttered veggies, whole wheat toast with olive oil
[Dinner] Sbarro's Spinach and Mushroom pizza.
[Coffee] Tall Mocha frappuccino with Valencia. Twice Blended.
I'm really happy with the new reading list we're using for my English 1 class. The previous year's list of books was at best hard to relate to, and at worst horribly boring. Compare these two lists:
Last Year
1st Quarter: Silas Marner by George Elliot
2nd Quarter: Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens
3rd Quarter: The Red Badge of Courage by Stephen Crane
4th Quarter: Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad
This Year
1st Quarter: The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett
2nd Quarter: The Giver by Lois Lowry
3rd Quarter: The Lord of the Flies by William Golding
4th Quarter: The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho
Silas Marner wasn't really bad, albeit mildly boring. It was just rather hard to relate to and the way the local manner of speech was rendered made it exceedingly hard to take in at times. Oliver Twist, on the other hand, was downright horrible. Dickens's prose is long-winded, wordy, and preachy. The plot felt like one of the telenovelas on ABS-CBN. Among these four, I liked the Red Badge the most. It was really short and was a rather vivid tale of war, though there were times when the narration confused me. Heart of Darkness was difficult to wrestle with, but it was still nowhere as awful as Oliver Twist.
Among this year's readings, the only one I haven't read yet is The Giver. I've already gone through Lord of the Flies and The Alchemist before, and both were quite engaging to read. I'm almost done with The Secret Garden, and I was pleasantly surprised by it. I thought it would be another dreary and confusing story, but I have to say that it is definitely one of the better classics I've read. I can't say too much about it now as most of the readers of this blog are my students who should be reading the novel on their own.
I took a trip to the bookstore a while ago to hunt for the Bartimaeus trilogy. I only found the second book (The Golem's Eye). Perhaps tomorrow I'll have better luck at Powerbooks. I intend to do a fair amount of book hunting soon. I have yet to finish That Hideous Strength, though--I had to put it down for a while. It really is a challenging read.
The only other book I'm hunting for right now (probably going to ask my brother to get it for me in Barnes and Noble before he comes home from the US) is Dissension, the third book in Magic: The Gathering's Ravnica trilogy. Ravnica: City of Guilds was good but rather convoluted, while Guildpact was complex in an amusing way. I never thought Teysa Karlov would make such a good protagonist, but she just shines in it. I expect Dissension to be full of action. After all, Rakdos the Defiler has come to party, and Razia's legion of angels isn't too happy about that.
~~~
On a rather sad note, I heard from one of my students that her mother was not letting her read Lord of the Rings and other fantasy books. According to the mother, fantasy was "useless" and Tolkien was crazy to have spent so much time creating his own universe.
I beg to differ. All literature is rooted in human experience, and Tolkien's "own world" is in fact supposed to be OUR world. Arda IS Earth. On top of that, Tolkien's work is ultimately uplifting.
C.S. Lewis created his own world too (Narnia), and it too is an echo of ours. Wild and beautiful and tragically marred by a single act of human foolishness, ending only to be transformed into a truer, wilder, and more wonderful version of itself.
Now, if you want to read work by a crackpot, you might want to check out H.P. Lovecraft's stuff. I haven't read them personally, but in general it seems his work makes people want to believe that a giant alien octopus man is sleeping under the waters of the Pacific Ocean. Lovecraft has a depressing, nihilistic point of view that makes you feel insignificant and weak. His mighty gods are not beings of glory, but twisted, vile creatures, mockeries of creation. Slugs, octopi, tentacle monsters, worms, giant demonic amoebas, giants with tentacles in place of faces--it goes on, and it sickens me. His obsession with tentacles is disturbing enough. Calling this guy a crackpot would not do him justice.
I really think it's unfair to fantasy stories to call them useless. Is "real-world" fiction any more genuine? Are their values even more applicable to human life? I'd definitely consider the values of honor, faith, hope and brotherhood (which appear in Lord of the Rings) much more applicable to life than the shallow materialism and consumerism promoted in the bilgewater known as Chick Lit.
I don't advocate rebellion against one's parents, dear student, but you'll always have your chance to read. Be thankful that you can read at all, and that you have good taste in books. Ultimately, your mind and your dreams are your own.
Earworms:
-Through the Fire and Flames by Dragon Force [Power Metal]
-Warriors by Freedom Call [Power Metal]
-XTC by Psychic Lover [JRock, Witchblade Anime OP]
Sustenance:
[Breakfast] Oatmeal
[Lunch] Kielbasa, buttered veggies, whole wheat toast with olive oil
[Dinner] Sbarro's Spinach and Mushroom pizza.
[Coffee] Tall Mocha frappuccino with Valencia. Twice Blended.
I'm really happy with the new reading list we're using for my English 1 class. The previous year's list of books was at best hard to relate to, and at worst horribly boring. Compare these two lists:
Last Year
1st Quarter: Silas Marner by George Elliot
2nd Quarter: Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens
3rd Quarter: The Red Badge of Courage by Stephen Crane
4th Quarter: Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad
This Year
1st Quarter: The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett
2nd Quarter: The Giver by Lois Lowry
3rd Quarter: The Lord of the Flies by William Golding
4th Quarter: The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho
Silas Marner wasn't really bad, albeit mildly boring. It was just rather hard to relate to and the way the local manner of speech was rendered made it exceedingly hard to take in at times. Oliver Twist, on the other hand, was downright horrible. Dickens's prose is long-winded, wordy, and preachy. The plot felt like one of the telenovelas on ABS-CBN. Among these four, I liked the Red Badge the most. It was really short and was a rather vivid tale of war, though there were times when the narration confused me. Heart of Darkness was difficult to wrestle with, but it was still nowhere as awful as Oliver Twist.
Among this year's readings, the only one I haven't read yet is The Giver. I've already gone through Lord of the Flies and The Alchemist before, and both were quite engaging to read. I'm almost done with The Secret Garden, and I was pleasantly surprised by it. I thought it would be another dreary and confusing story, but I have to say that it is definitely one of the better classics I've read. I can't say too much about it now as most of the readers of this blog are my students who should be reading the novel on their own.
I took a trip to the bookstore a while ago to hunt for the Bartimaeus trilogy. I only found the second book (The Golem's Eye). Perhaps tomorrow I'll have better luck at Powerbooks. I intend to do a fair amount of book hunting soon. I have yet to finish That Hideous Strength, though--I had to put it down for a while. It really is a challenging read.
The only other book I'm hunting for right now (probably going to ask my brother to get it for me in Barnes and Noble before he comes home from the US) is Dissension, the third book in Magic: The Gathering's Ravnica trilogy. Ravnica: City of Guilds was good but rather convoluted, while Guildpact was complex in an amusing way. I never thought Teysa Karlov would make such a good protagonist, but she just shines in it. I expect Dissension to be full of action. After all, Rakdos the Defiler has come to party, and Razia's legion of angels isn't too happy about that.
~~~
On a rather sad note, I heard from one of my students that her mother was not letting her read Lord of the Rings and other fantasy books. According to the mother, fantasy was "useless" and Tolkien was crazy to have spent so much time creating his own universe.
I beg to differ. All literature is rooted in human experience, and Tolkien's "own world" is in fact supposed to be OUR world. Arda IS Earth. On top of that, Tolkien's work is ultimately uplifting.
C.S. Lewis created his own world too (Narnia), and it too is an echo of ours. Wild and beautiful and tragically marred by a single act of human foolishness, ending only to be transformed into a truer, wilder, and more wonderful version of itself.
Now, if you want to read work by a crackpot, you might want to check out H.P. Lovecraft's stuff. I haven't read them personally, but in general it seems his work makes people want to believe that a giant alien octopus man is sleeping under the waters of the Pacific Ocean. Lovecraft has a depressing, nihilistic point of view that makes you feel insignificant and weak. His mighty gods are not beings of glory, but twisted, vile creatures, mockeries of creation. Slugs, octopi, tentacle monsters, worms, giant demonic amoebas, giants with tentacles in place of faces--it goes on, and it sickens me. His obsession with tentacles is disturbing enough. Calling this guy a crackpot would not do him justice.
I really think it's unfair to fantasy stories to call them useless. Is "real-world" fiction any more genuine? Are their values even more applicable to human life? I'd definitely consider the values of honor, faith, hope and brotherhood (which appear in Lord of the Rings) much more applicable to life than the shallow materialism and consumerism promoted in the bilgewater known as Chick Lit.
I don't advocate rebellion against one's parents, dear student, but you'll always have your chance to read. Be thankful that you can read at all, and that you have good taste in books. Ultimately, your mind and your dreams are your own.
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