Current System Configuration: Tactical Coordinator
BGM: The Midnight Carnival by Daisuke Ishiwatari. Final battle theme of the 2d fighting game Guilty Gear XX #Reload. Hard, fast and heavy with soaring lead guitars.
Breakfast: Sourdough toast and corned beef
Lunch: Fettucine ala Pesto with garlic bread (homemade...mmm...) on the side and a beef quesadilla.
Dinner: Mushroom and spinach pizza and garlic bread (again) from Sbarro.
The culprit behind the thefts in my class did not confess, as expected. Whoever you are, I'll find you. That is not an empty threat. I can no longer show you any mercy, as you did not choose the honorable way out. When I find you, it's a dishonorable dismissal for you.
Here is another class caricature (this was actually made first) of one of the other sections I handle, I-Topaz. This image was drawn by Anna. Unfortunately, their appearances don't seem to vary much (except for Anna, of course. <_<>_< ...for some reason I have nothing else to say for today. Maybe it's because I'm tired, maybe I'm just...yeah, tired. Hopefully something worth commenting on will happen over the weekend---something good. さらばだ。
Friday, October 28, 2005
Tuesday, October 25, 2005
The Crackdown
Current System Configuration: Criminal Investigator
BGM: Sarani Tatakau Mono Tachi（更 に戦う者たち）Advent Children Version by Nobuo Uematsu. A hard rocking remix of the Final Fantasy VII boss theme used in the Advent Children movie when Avalanche fights the bug-like Bahamut. Edgy, hardcore and heart rate stimulating.
Breakfast: Muesli with pineapple-flavored yoghurt
Lunch: Beef shawarma and nachos
Dinner: None yet, most likely foccacia bread dipped in olive oil and balsamic vinegar. (If you've noticed, this is the food I eat when I'm too lazy for a full meal)---Actually, I had Yellow Cab Pizza. For the win.
With grades finally submitted and the scholarship committe meetings done, I'm pretty much going to coast along for the last three days before the long vacation we'll be having from October 29 to November 6. Teachers and students alike are stressed to their limits and are barely clinging on to the threads of sanity. (Though some students had no sanity to begin with. You know who you are. <_<) style="font-style: italic;">Non sequitur. Gundam: The 8th MS Team is a great anime. It came out in 1995 (around the same time as Gundam Wing, which might explain why it's not so popular, being overshadowed by the winning formula of bishounen-and-angst) and is pretty much considered a side story. It has no direct relation to the plot of the original Mobile Suit Gundam (0079), which is supposed to happen at the same time.
The 8th MS Team is a well-executed departure from the Gundam many of us are used to: massively-souped up robots piloted by incredibly talented (and often good-looking) young men who easily annihilate all opposition with a serving of angst and reluctance on the side. In the 8th MS Team you instead have an idealistic and oft careless (but incredibly resourceful) team leader, Shiro Amada; a hot-blooded and tomboyish red-headed lady, Karen Joshua; Sanders, a dreadlocked soldier who believes himself to be a jinx; Eledore, a wannabe musician who has a weakness for a particular blonde centerfold; and Michel, a boy who is perpetually found writing to his girlfriend. Their Mobile Suits are still Gundams---but generic, grunt-issue units that can barely fly and never pose flashily (unlike practically everything in Gundam SEED -_-). The 8th MS team does not soar through the blue skies or starry heavens blowing up enemy units---no, they fight in hot, steamy jungles infested with leeches. They get bored while stalking enemy units in the desert to the point of bickering pettily. Their units get trashed, after which they have to actually pull that ejection lever and end up forsaken on some mountain peak in the middle of nowhere, and use their wits to survive the bitter cold.
The 8th MS Team is grittily realistic but nonetheless entertaining. Some people may complain about the lack of continuity when it comes to technology, but really, that's completely fine with me. 4.5 stars out of 5.
Back to reality. Here is a nauseatingly cute caricature of my advisory class, I-Sapphire. (Drawn by Yana)
First Row, starting from upper left: Neon, who appeared in a TV ad for a milk formula for "gifted children"; Mike, who is sleeping with his I-Pod; John; MJ, whose fascination with cattle I still do not understand; Gabby, who loves chess; Zaldy, who is drawing in the grass; Jocel; and Francis, who cannot be seen very clearly. He is standing on the globe and is known for his aptitude in math and Earth sciences.
Second Row: King, who claims to be some sort of universal monarch; Jut, whose soul appears to be trapped in a cellular phone; Kit, who seems to be enjoying himself here; Vince, who was somehow transmuted into a goat; Patti(Cor), who is blooming here; Dianne and Belsha, who are holding hands and flashing creepy grins; and Darrwin, who is erasing the board.
Third Row: The Inseparable Trio/Tres Marias/The Tiger Girls: Inna (the Genie), Trish (the Fairy) and Marga (the Angel); Cesar; Paolo, who seems to have more than adequate funding and an obsession with fish; Manuel and JM, whose souls seem to be trapped inside a Gameboy Advance; Prince, who seems to be more regally-clad than King; Paul, who believes silence is a virtue; Ingrid, who for some unknown reason here is reading a "men's interests" magazine (ahem); Patti (yes, two Pattis), said to be our resident genius; and Kate, who lost her sanity a loooooooooong time ago.
In the lower right corner is Yana, the artist behind this wonderful work of art, and the Syaoran lookalike in the middle is myself. Why she drew me as a Syaoran lookalike I have no idea.
What deeply saddens me is that one of these students is behind the sequence of thefts that has occured since the start of the schoolyear. We have narrowed down the suspects to the 20 boys, as the most recent theft occured in the absence of the girls. (During swimming class---the girls have theirs separate from the boys, for obvious reasons) I'm normally a very merciful person, but I have to say that I will not tolerate thefts in class. Whoever is responsible will have to pay dearly and most likely be dismissed dishonorably from our school. The crackdown itself will happen soon enough. It will be sad to see one of these guys go, but it would be even sadder if he gets all the way through high school, college and professional life without kicking this habit.
May God grant me the wisdom to discern who it is.
さらばだ。
BGM: Sarani Tatakau Mono Tachi（更 に戦う者たち）Advent Children Version by Nobuo Uematsu. A hard rocking remix of the Final Fantasy VII boss theme used in the Advent Children movie when Avalanche fights the bug-like Bahamut. Edgy, hardcore and heart rate stimulating.
Breakfast: Muesli with pineapple-flavored yoghurt
Lunch: Beef shawarma and nachos
Dinner: None yet, most likely foccacia bread dipped in olive oil and balsamic vinegar. (If you've noticed, this is the food I eat when I'm too lazy for a full meal)---Actually, I had Yellow Cab Pizza. For the win.
With grades finally submitted and the scholarship committe meetings done, I'm pretty much going to coast along for the last three days before the long vacation we'll be having from October 29 to November 6. Teachers and students alike are stressed to their limits and are barely clinging on to the threads of sanity. (Though some students had no sanity to begin with. You know who you are. <_<) style="font-style: italic;">Non sequitur. Gundam: The 8th MS Team is a great anime. It came out in 1995 (around the same time as Gundam Wing, which might explain why it's not so popular, being overshadowed by the winning formula of bishounen-and-angst) and is pretty much considered a side story. It has no direct relation to the plot of the original Mobile Suit Gundam (0079), which is supposed to happen at the same time.
The 8th MS Team is a well-executed departure from the Gundam many of us are used to: massively-souped up robots piloted by incredibly talented (and often good-looking) young men who easily annihilate all opposition with a serving of angst and reluctance on the side. In the 8th MS Team you instead have an idealistic and oft careless (but incredibly resourceful) team leader, Shiro Amada; a hot-blooded and tomboyish red-headed lady, Karen Joshua; Sanders, a dreadlocked soldier who believes himself to be a jinx; Eledore, a wannabe musician who has a weakness for a particular blonde centerfold; and Michel, a boy who is perpetually found writing to his girlfriend. Their Mobile Suits are still Gundams---but generic, grunt-issue units that can barely fly and never pose flashily (unlike practically everything in Gundam SEED -_-). The 8th MS team does not soar through the blue skies or starry heavens blowing up enemy units---no, they fight in hot, steamy jungles infested with leeches. They get bored while stalking enemy units in the desert to the point of bickering pettily. Their units get trashed, after which they have to actually pull that ejection lever and end up forsaken on some mountain peak in the middle of nowhere, and use their wits to survive the bitter cold.
The 8th MS Team is grittily realistic but nonetheless entertaining. Some people may complain about the lack of continuity when it comes to technology, but really, that's completely fine with me. 4.5 stars out of 5.
Back to reality. Here is a nauseatingly cute caricature of my advisory class, I-Sapphire. (Drawn by Yana)
First Row, starting from upper left: Neon, who appeared in a TV ad for a milk formula for "gifted children"; Mike, who is sleeping with his I-Pod; John; MJ, whose fascination with cattle I still do not understand; Gabby, who loves chess; Zaldy, who is drawing in the grass; Jocel; and Francis, who cannot be seen very clearly. He is standing on the globe and is known for his aptitude in math and Earth sciences.
Second Row: King, who claims to be some sort of universal monarch; Jut, whose soul appears to be trapped in a cellular phone; Kit, who seems to be enjoying himself here; Vince, who was somehow transmuted into a goat; Patti(Cor), who is blooming here; Dianne and Belsha, who are holding hands and flashing creepy grins; and Darrwin, who is erasing the board.
Third Row: The Inseparable Trio/Tres Marias/The Tiger Girls: Inna (the Genie), Trish (the Fairy) and Marga (the Angel); Cesar; Paolo, who seems to have more than adequate funding and an obsession with fish; Manuel and JM, whose souls seem to be trapped inside a Gameboy Advance; Prince, who seems to be more regally-clad than King; Paul, who believes silence is a virtue; Ingrid, who for some unknown reason here is reading a "men's interests" magazine (ahem); Patti (yes, two Pattis), said to be our resident genius; and Kate, who lost her sanity a loooooooooong time ago.
In the lower right corner is Yana, the artist behind this wonderful work of art, and the Syaoran lookalike in the middle is myself. Why she drew me as a Syaoran lookalike I have no idea.
What deeply saddens me is that one of these students is behind the sequence of thefts that has occured since the start of the schoolyear. We have narrowed down the suspects to the 20 boys, as the most recent theft occured in the absence of the girls. (During swimming class---the girls have theirs separate from the boys, for obvious reasons) I'm normally a very merciful person, but I have to say that I will not tolerate thefts in class. Whoever is responsible will have to pay dearly and most likely be dismissed dishonorably from our school. The crackdown itself will happen soon enough. It will be sad to see one of these guys go, but it would be even sadder if he gets all the way through high school, college and professional life without kicking this habit.
May God grant me the wisdom to discern who it is.
さらばだ。
Saturday, October 22, 2005
Postmodern Idolatry
Current System Configuration: Pan-Dimensional Reality Synthesizer (Applying decals onto my 1/100-scale Temjin 747 type A8 "White Knight," which is a very tedious task.)
BGM: "Cry for the Earth" by JAM Project. Somber and angsty, which is atypical for JAM Project songs. JAM Project usually sounds like Queen or Aerosmith, but in this particular song they sound like Linkin Park. Lyrics: http://www.angelfire.com/realm2/alinda_sue/songs/cry_for_the_earth_romaji_.htm
Breakfast: Merced Bakehouse's raisin bread + hot chocolate
Lunch: It's 8:02 in the morning, so none yet.
DInner: Ditto
Just finished computing my grades the other night (well, they're not completely finished; I still have to transmute them). Treated myself to a game of Virtual On: Oratorio Tangram (Wow, I finished the game with one token! A considerable feat, since I suck at the game.) at the local arcade and a Chicago deep dish pizza at Sbarro. Also played GunZ last night, finally got to Level 36. The Minic revolvers I purchased for myself weren't much better than the pair of Phantom Cruise Ns that I'd been using for a while---I guess I really have to wait till Lv 50 to get a good firepower boost. Oh well.
Now you might be wondering why my BGM is an angsty tune when I've been experiencing quite an amount of success in the past 24 hours. It's because of an article that my mother pointed out in today's paper--"Babies--bought--sold and traded" by James B. Reuter, S.J. My stand is still that being created in God's image, man---including embryos---should not be slaughtered on whim as if they were problems (as in the case of abortion) or cultured and destroyed like bacteria in a petri dish to come up with a cure for cancer (stem cell research.)
The article talked about how "unborn children are treated like consumer products." Apparently, baby parts are being sold in Kharkov, Ukraine. The parts were said to have been taken from "fetuses aborted at an early stage of life." The thing is, Kharkov's maternity wards have been missing some newborn babies as of late. According to Ukrainian law, "babies born before 27 weeks or weighing less than 1 kg/2.2 lbs are automatically considered abortions."
The article went on to say that "Ukrainian women were being paid to sell their fetuses to clinics. The tissues are then used for beauty treatments that are supposed to rejuvenate the skin and cure diseases." Another scientist, Ian Wilnut, says that human embryonic stem cells should be used in order to save animals from being used in tests.
When I saw this I was just disgusted. I have nothing against scientific breakthroughs, but somehow it seems that people are going back to being pagan. (Of course one can argue that society at large never really truly let go of paganism.) This is not a dig at any contemporary religion, but more of an expression of just how bad we can get.
Children were once sacrificed to "gods" to appease them for the sake of guaranteeing fertility, health or protection of their livestock. Children being sacrificed to the "god" called Sha-Iyyense (figure that out) for the sake of beauty treatments, the cure for cancer or for the protection of animals from use in experiments sounds creepily similar.
I believe that there is just no situation in which abortion is justified except for times when both the mother and child are in danger and it boils down to choosing which one survives.. If you don't want children (especially if you are a teenage girl who's still in school), then don't have sex! Procreation is after all, one of the major reasons why we have such organs built into our fearfully and wonderfully made bodies. A woman may have a right to her own body, but so does an unborn child.
Children being aborted as if they were a disease is bad enough---it's not like it's their fault that they were conceived. Sacrificing children for some obscure "good thing," however is just abominable. What's even more disturbing is that I'm pretty sure that people won't stop there. As a race we are good at one thing: coming up with new ways of being evil.
憎しみが REFRAIN あふれている
絶望が REFRAIN
押し寄せる DESPAIR 耐えられない
降り止まぬ COLD RAIN CRYING FOR THE EARTH！
#1022AD20050847
BGM: "Cry for the Earth" by JAM Project. Somber and angsty, which is atypical for JAM Project songs. JAM Project usually sounds like Queen or Aerosmith, but in this particular song they sound like Linkin Park. Lyrics: http://www.angelfire.com/realm2/alinda_sue/songs/cry_for_the_earth_romaji_.htm
Breakfast: Merced Bakehouse's raisin bread + hot chocolate
Lunch: It's 8:02 in the morning, so none yet.
DInner: Ditto
Just finished computing my grades the other night (well, they're not completely finished; I still have to transmute them). Treated myself to a game of Virtual On: Oratorio Tangram (Wow, I finished the game with one token! A considerable feat, since I suck at the game.) at the local arcade and a Chicago deep dish pizza at Sbarro. Also played GunZ last night, finally got to Level 36. The Minic revolvers I purchased for myself weren't much better than the pair of Phantom Cruise Ns that I'd been using for a while---I guess I really have to wait till Lv 50 to get a good firepower boost. Oh well.
Now you might be wondering why my BGM is an angsty tune when I've been experiencing quite an amount of success in the past 24 hours. It's because of an article that my mother pointed out in today's paper--"Babies--bought--sold and traded" by James B. Reuter, S.J. My stand is still that being created in God's image, man---including embryos---should not be slaughtered on whim as if they were problems (as in the case of abortion) or cultured and destroyed like bacteria in a petri dish to come up with a cure for cancer (stem cell research.)
The article talked about how "unborn children are treated like consumer products." Apparently, baby parts are being sold in Kharkov, Ukraine. The parts were said to have been taken from "fetuses aborted at an early stage of life." The thing is, Kharkov's maternity wards have been missing some newborn babies as of late. According to Ukrainian law, "babies born before 27 weeks or weighing less than 1 kg/2.2 lbs are automatically considered abortions."
The article went on to say that "Ukrainian women were being paid to sell their fetuses to clinics. The tissues are then used for beauty treatments that are supposed to rejuvenate the skin and cure diseases." Another scientist, Ian Wilnut, says that human embryonic stem cells should be used in order to save animals from being used in tests.
When I saw this I was just disgusted. I have nothing against scientific breakthroughs, but somehow it seems that people are going back to being pagan. (Of course one can argue that society at large never really truly let go of paganism.) This is not a dig at any contemporary religion, but more of an expression of just how bad we can get.
Children were once sacrificed to "gods" to appease them for the sake of guaranteeing fertility, health or protection of their livestock. Children being sacrificed to the "god" called Sha-Iyyense (figure that out) for the sake of beauty treatments, the cure for cancer or for the protection of animals from use in experiments sounds creepily similar.
I believe that there is just no situation in which abortion is justified except for times when both the mother and child are in danger and it boils down to choosing which one survives.. If you don't want children (especially if you are a teenage girl who's still in school), then don't have sex! Procreation is after all, one of the major reasons why we have such organs built into our fearfully and wonderfully made bodies. A woman may have a right to her own body, but so does an unborn child.
Children being aborted as if they were a disease is bad enough---it's not like it's their fault that they were conceived. Sacrificing children for some obscure "good thing," however is just abominable. What's even more disturbing is that I'm pretty sure that people won't stop there. As a race we are good at one thing: coming up with new ways of being evil.
憎しみが REFRAIN あふれている
絶望が REFRAIN
押し寄せる DESPAIR 耐えられない
降り止まぬ COLD RAIN CRYING FOR THE EARTH！
#1022AD20050847
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