These answers are slightly shorter than last time.
More answers to questions from the question meme I pimped out previously. The instructions are here, and I'll still ask questions over there too, if anybody else wants to play.
Questions from walkofeternity
1. What 5 CDs will you never tire of listening to? Feel free to add explanations, but they are optional.
Oh, God. Way to ask the most difficult question ever. In the past couple of years, I've gradually moved away from listening to full CDs and have started listening more to mixed playlists. This is because, on every CD, there is usually 1 song I really dislike, 1~3 songs I don't care too much for but don't hate outright, and the rest are songs I like/love. So rather than spending time listening to songs in those first two groups, I put the songs I like/love on playlists and mostly only listen to those. So basically, I think in terms of songs, not albums.
...All right, after giving it a lot of thought, here's my list:
1. Ayumi Hamasaki's Rainbow
It was kind of a toss-up between Rainbow and Memorial Address, but in the end, I do like Rainbow better. There are songs on Rainbow that are not so memorable individually, but part of what makes this CD so amazing is that it blends together so well as a whole. It's one of the few CDs I own where I enjoy listening to the entire CD from start to finish a lot more than I enjoy listening to my handful of favorite songs on it. This album is kind of like a journey; you can't just choose a starting point and skip over a few songs and end someplace else. You have to stick with it from start to finish. And I love it to death.
2. Daft Punk's Discovery
If anybody ever came up to me and said that they could tire of listening to Daft Punk, I think I'd be forced to punch them in the face.
3. KOTOKO's Hane
KOTOKO and I've Sound remind me every day what it is that I love about Asian music. Amazing vocals? Check. Hauntingly beautiful instrumentals? Check. Gorgeously poetic lyrics? Check. Every playlist/mix CD I make contains at least 3 KOTOKO/I've songs, and for good reason.
4. Madonna's Ray of Light
Okay, don't laugh at me. But seriously, my mom discovered this CD when I was like, 10, and we still listen to it all the time and it never gets old. I guess it also has some emotional value... a lot of memories of good times with the family, especially before the divorce.
5. Utada Hikaru's DEEP RIVER
This is actually one of the first CDs I thought of when you asked this question. In the end, I always hesitate to consider Hikki one of my all-time favorite artists because there's a lot of her music that I just don't like, but this CD will stay in my collection forever. It has a great variety of songs that are each amazing in their own right, and they work well together as an album too.
A few others that almost made the cut but didn't, and why:
* Bassnectar's Underground Communication
I've only owned this one for a few months, during which it's been the CD I've listened to most regularly and most frequently, but it's hard to say if it's just a "phase" or a lasting thing.
* The Cure's Disintegration
While it's pretty much a classic and must-have for anybody who likes late 80s/early 90s rock and almost every song on here is too gorgeous for words, I'm not sure if I could listen to it over and over without tiring after a while, just because it /is/ so melancholy.
* Tool's Lateralus
I'm not sure I'd label it a "CD I will never tire of listening to" as much as a "CD I couldn't live without". In a sense, I feel that discovering this album redefined me and my taste in music, but it's not something I listen to frequently. There are times when I do go weeks or months without listening to Tool. So if the question were instead, "If you had to throw away all but 5 of your CDs, which would you keep?" this would be on the list.
2. What "ritual" (brushing your teeth, buying school supplies, going to lunch in a certain cafeteria, etc.) comforts or calms you, even if it may seem strange to someone else? Why?
Making myself hot tea with my breakfast. (To be really specific, it's almost ALWAYS Earl Grey tea, too. I might have oolong or other black tea later in the day, but it's always Earl Grey tea in the morning.) Even now that it's summer and it's ridiculously hot, I still have tea with breakfast every morning. I guess... just because it's something I've always done, something my mother did for me when I was still too little to do it myself. It's one of the only things about my day that's always consistent. I don't always get up at the same time, don't always eat the same things, don't follow the same routines, but I always have tea. I guess that kind of consistency is comforting.
3. What do you envision your dream living space to look like?
For some reason, I always picture myself in an apartment rather than a big house, but that's also probably in part due to the fact that I always picture myself living in a medium-to-large-size city (and to me Houston doesn't count because Houston's not a city. It's just suburbs). The other thing is that I don't need to have too much physical space to feel happy. You remember that when my parents announced they were divorcing, I was hoping to move into an apartment with my dad, and I got angry when he decided he wanted to keep our gigantic house. Even my mom's house feels quite big to me these days.
So, an apartment. Not tiny, but not huge either. A small bedroom with an adjacent bathroom and closet. A study that doubles as my studio, with a couple of desks and room for all my computer equipment and good lighting. A living room and a kitchen area. The kitchen doesn't even need to be fully separated, and I don't need a separate dining area. If the kitchen has a "bar" area with a couple of barstools, that's fine with me. Or else, the living room can double as the dining room.
Aside from that, I picture it having a very designer'y and almost minimalist look, with simple and sleek, modern furniture (Ikea-type stuff, perhaps slightly Asian-inspired). Slim bookcases, a couple of small sofas, a coffee table, a very low bed in the bedroom (ie. the mattress barely off the floor). Sparse but well-placed decorations -- enough to give each room personality, but not so much that any area looks cluttered. Even if it's not necessarily a huge apartment, it should feel spacious, like you can actually breathe. Feng shui'ish. I'm not sure if I'd necessarily want to paint all the walls something other than white, but I'd definitely do a lot of work with color accents.
4. Why are you friends with the people you are friends with? Do you have a lot in common with them or not so much?
It varies. We usually have several interests in common, but personality-wise, we tend to be very different. There are definite exceptions, though; you and Tom, for example, I would say I have more personality traits and fewer interests in common with. The best way to generalize it would be to say that we have enough in common to give us things to talk about and have some things we enjoy doing together, but overall, we're not too similar. I actually have a tendency to not be able to stand people I have a LOT in common with. It's the curse of having an artist's personality. I can't stand the idea of not being unique.
5. How do you feel about bulletin boards?
Do you mean online message boards, or the actual physical bulletin boards?
If the former, I don't care for them. I don't hate them, but I don't have the time or the motivation to keep up with them, so I don't bother.
If the latter, they're... all right? I have a magnet board in my room that I use to hang up cards people sent me, a couple of bus schedules, a business card or two, and the occasional reminder to myself (I usually put reminders to myself on post-its on my computer monitor though, since in the end that's one of the only places where I can guarantee I'll see it). I wouldn't consider this magnet board something I absolutely couldn't live without, though.
Questions from susako
1. What would you consider to be a truly life-changing moment for you? And being born doesn't count.
Meeting Tom, since he's the person who taught me about platonic love. Before I met him, I don't think I really understood how you could love your friends. But now I know. ^_^
2. What was your dream career when you were little?
I was really serious about the ballerina thing for a good while. I did ballet for years and years and I intended to keep doing it. But it wouldn't have worked out anyway, because I totally don't have the right build for a dancer.
Once I moved to Germany, my 4th Grade teacher really emphasized creative writing, and she's the one who really encouraged me to write down all the things my active imagination conjured up. That's when I decided I wanted to be an author.
3. If you had to see the world in only one colour, what would it be?
I was tempted to say that black and white would be cool because then it'd be like an old-fashioned movie, but I do love color, so I'm not sure if I could live without it for the rest of my life. Maybe a pale/saturated purple. Seeing blue all the time would be melancholy, while pink would be unnatural and obnoxious. I'm not a big fan of reds/oranges/browns, yellow would be a nightmare, and while I love green and other shades/variations of green (eg. teal), I somehow can't picture the world in only that color. So, a light purple.
4. What is a fandom (a series, a manga, an anime, a video game etc) that you've heard lots about but for one reason or another haven't really checked out? Would you like to enter this fandom? Why/why not?
There are lots of these. I guess the biggest one recently that I've heard a lot of people talking about is Code Geass. When I first heard about it, it piqued my interest a bit because of the CLAMP character designs and the supposed gay potential. As of yet, though, I haven't bothered to check it out because I'm a lot more into manga than anime these days. I don't have the time or the patience to sit down and watch 30-minute episodes. I'd be a lot more motivated to check it out if there was a manga, but as far as I know, there isn't. Either way, I tend to steer clear of major hypes. If Geass starts getting any more popular than it is already, that's going to be a major deterrent for me from entering that fandom.
Tales of the Abyss has been all over the place for a good while now. However, the hype reminds me of the KH/KH2 hype, which is part of the reason why I don't feel like entering that fandom at all. The other thing is that I've seen my sister play a couple of the Tales games before, and what I saw didn't really appeal to me much at all. I played the original Tales game for the SNES (...Phantasia? I don't remember the name) way back when, but I was never a big fan of that series.
The other recent one popping up on my flist is .hack//G.U.. I have checked out the manga, but I do want to play the actual game(s?). However, I don't have money to buy games right now, and I don't have much time to play them. I also haven't played any of the .hack// games except for infection, and I'm still a little clueless as to how the G.U. games fit into that universe. The fandom seems interesting though, and like something I could maybe actually handle. So, we'll see.
5. You generally write quite long posts in your journal but here's something a bit different: sum up your day in 10 words or less.
I woke up, went to class. Now I'm at work.
Plz to be voting in this POLL OF GREAT IMPORTANCE if you haven't already. :>
Questions from walkofeternity
1. What 5 CDs will you never tire of listening to? Feel free to add explanations, but they are optional.
Oh, God. Way to ask the most difficult question ever. In the past couple of years, I've gradually moved away from listening to full CDs and have started listening more to mixed playlists. This is because, on every CD, there is usually 1 song I really dislike, 1~3 songs I don't care too much for but don't hate outright, and the rest are songs I like/love. So rather than spending time listening to songs in those first two groups, I put the songs I like/love on playlists and mostly only listen to those. So basically, I think in terms of songs, not albums.
...All right, after giving it a lot of thought, here's my list:
1. Ayumi Hamasaki's Rainbow
It was kind of a toss-up between Rainbow and Memorial Address, but in the end, I do like Rainbow better. There are songs on Rainbow that are not so memorable individually, but part of what makes this CD so amazing is that it blends together so well as a whole. It's one of the few CDs I own where I enjoy listening to the entire CD from start to finish a lot more than I enjoy listening to my handful of favorite songs on it. This album is kind of like a journey; you can't just choose a starting point and skip over a few songs and end someplace else. You have to stick with it from start to finish. And I love it to death.
2. Daft Punk's Discovery
If anybody ever came up to me and said that they could tire of listening to Daft Punk, I think I'd be forced to punch them in the face.
3. KOTOKO's Hane
KOTOKO and I've Sound remind me every day what it is that I love about Asian music. Amazing vocals? Check. Hauntingly beautiful instrumentals? Check. Gorgeously poetic lyrics? Check. Every playlist/mix CD I make contains at least 3 KOTOKO/I've songs, and for good reason.
4. Madonna's Ray of Light
Okay, don't laugh at me. But seriously, my mom discovered this CD when I was like, 10, and we still listen to it all the time and it never gets old. I guess it also has some emotional value... a lot of memories of good times with the family, especially before the divorce.
5. Utada Hikaru's DEEP RIVER
This is actually one of the first CDs I thought of when you asked this question. In the end, I always hesitate to consider Hikki one of my all-time favorite artists because there's a lot of her music that I just don't like, but this CD will stay in my collection forever. It has a great variety of songs that are each amazing in their own right, and they work well together as an album too.
A few others that almost made the cut but didn't, and why:
* Bassnectar's Underground Communication
I've only owned this one for a few months, during which it's been the CD I've listened to most regularly and most frequently, but it's hard to say if it's just a "phase" or a lasting thing.
* The Cure's Disintegration
While it's pretty much a classic and must-have for anybody who likes late 80s/early 90s rock and almost every song on here is too gorgeous for words, I'm not sure if I could listen to it over and over without tiring after a while, just because it /is/ so melancholy.
* Tool's Lateralus
I'm not sure I'd label it a "CD I will never tire of listening to" as much as a "CD I couldn't live without". In a sense, I feel that discovering this album redefined me and my taste in music, but it's not something I listen to frequently. There are times when I do go weeks or months without listening to Tool. So if the question were instead, "If you had to throw away all but 5 of your CDs, which would you keep?" this would be on the list.
2. What "ritual" (brushing your teeth, buying school supplies, going to lunch in a certain cafeteria, etc.) comforts or calms you, even if it may seem strange to someone else? Why?
Making myself hot tea with my breakfast. (To be really specific, it's almost ALWAYS Earl Grey tea, too. I might have oolong or other black tea later in the day, but it's always Earl Grey tea in the morning.) Even now that it's summer and it's ridiculously hot, I still have tea with breakfast every morning. I guess... just because it's something I've always done, something my mother did for me when I was still too little to do it myself. It's one of the only things about my day that's always consistent. I don't always get up at the same time, don't always eat the same things, don't follow the same routines, but I always have tea. I guess that kind of consistency is comforting.
3. What do you envision your dream living space to look like?
For some reason, I always picture myself in an apartment rather than a big house, but that's also probably in part due to the fact that I always picture myself living in a medium-to-large-size city (and to me Houston doesn't count because Houston's not a city. It's just suburbs). The other thing is that I don't need to have too much physical space to feel happy. You remember that when my parents announced they were divorcing, I was hoping to move into an apartment with my dad, and I got angry when he decided he wanted to keep our gigantic house. Even my mom's house feels quite big to me these days.
So, an apartment. Not tiny, but not huge either. A small bedroom with an adjacent bathroom and closet. A study that doubles as my studio, with a couple of desks and room for all my computer equipment and good lighting. A living room and a kitchen area. The kitchen doesn't even need to be fully separated, and I don't need a separate dining area. If the kitchen has a "bar" area with a couple of barstools, that's fine with me. Or else, the living room can double as the dining room.
Aside from that, I picture it having a very designer'y and almost minimalist look, with simple and sleek, modern furniture (Ikea-type stuff, perhaps slightly Asian-inspired). Slim bookcases, a couple of small sofas, a coffee table, a very low bed in the bedroom (ie. the mattress barely off the floor). Sparse but well-placed decorations -- enough to give each room personality, but not so much that any area looks cluttered. Even if it's not necessarily a huge apartment, it should feel spacious, like you can actually breathe. Feng shui'ish. I'm not sure if I'd necessarily want to paint all the walls something other than white, but I'd definitely do a lot of work with color accents.
4. Why are you friends with the people you are friends with? Do you have a lot in common with them or not so much?
It varies. We usually have several interests in common, but personality-wise, we tend to be very different. There are definite exceptions, though; you and Tom, for example, I would say I have more personality traits and fewer interests in common with. The best way to generalize it would be to say that we have enough in common to give us things to talk about and have some things we enjoy doing together, but overall, we're not too similar. I actually have a tendency to not be able to stand people I have a LOT in common with. It's the curse of having an artist's personality. I can't stand the idea of not being unique.
5. How do you feel about bulletin boards?
Do you mean online message boards, or the actual physical bulletin boards?
If the former, I don't care for them. I don't hate them, but I don't have the time or the motivation to keep up with them, so I don't bother.
If the latter, they're... all right? I have a magnet board in my room that I use to hang up cards people sent me, a couple of bus schedules, a business card or two, and the occasional reminder to myself (I usually put reminders to myself on post-its on my computer monitor though, since in the end that's one of the only places where I can guarantee I'll see it). I wouldn't consider this magnet board something I absolutely couldn't live without, though.
Questions from susako
1. What would you consider to be a truly life-changing moment for you? And being born doesn't count.
Meeting Tom, since he's the person who taught me about platonic love. Before I met him, I don't think I really understood how you could love your friends. But now I know. ^_^
2. What was your dream career when you were little?
I was really serious about the ballerina thing for a good while. I did ballet for years and years and I intended to keep doing it. But it wouldn't have worked out anyway, because I totally don't have the right build for a dancer.
Once I moved to Germany, my 4th Grade teacher really emphasized creative writing, and she's the one who really encouraged me to write down all the things my active imagination conjured up. That's when I decided I wanted to be an author.
3. If you had to see the world in only one colour, what would it be?
I was tempted to say that black and white would be cool because then it'd be like an old-fashioned movie, but I do love color, so I'm not sure if I could live without it for the rest of my life. Maybe a pale/saturated purple. Seeing blue all the time would be melancholy, while pink would be unnatural and obnoxious. I'm not a big fan of reds/oranges/browns, yellow would be a nightmare, and while I love green and other shades/variations of green (eg. teal), I somehow can't picture the world in only that color. So, a light purple.
4. What is a fandom (a series, a manga, an anime, a video game etc) that you've heard lots about but for one reason or another haven't really checked out? Would you like to enter this fandom? Why/why not?
There are lots of these. I guess the biggest one recently that I've heard a lot of people talking about is Code Geass. When I first heard about it, it piqued my interest a bit because of the CLAMP character designs and the supposed gay potential. As of yet, though, I haven't bothered to check it out because I'm a lot more into manga than anime these days. I don't have the time or the patience to sit down and watch 30-minute episodes. I'd be a lot more motivated to check it out if there was a manga, but as far as I know, there isn't. Either way, I tend to steer clear of major hypes. If Geass starts getting any more popular than it is already, that's going to be a major deterrent for me from entering that fandom.
Tales of the Abyss has been all over the place for a good while now. However, the hype reminds me of the KH/KH2 hype, which is part of the reason why I don't feel like entering that fandom at all. The other thing is that I've seen my sister play a couple of the Tales games before, and what I saw didn't really appeal to me much at all. I played the original Tales game for the SNES (...Phantasia? I don't remember the name) way back when, but I was never a big fan of that series.
The other recent one popping up on my flist is .hack//G.U.. I have checked out the manga, but I do want to play the actual game(s?). However, I don't have money to buy games right now, and I don't have much time to play them. I also haven't played any of the .hack// games except for infection, and I'm still a little clueless as to how the G.U. games fit into that universe. The fandom seems interesting though, and like something I could maybe actually handle. So, we'll see.
5. You generally write quite long posts in your journal but here's something a bit different: sum up your day in 10 words or less.
I woke up, went to class. Now I'm at work.
Plz to be voting in this POLL OF GREAT IMPORTANCE if you haven't already. :>