Hello, everybody!
It's been a while since I made a serious update. I'm very sorry, but I was being quite sick and there was a lot going on here. Things keep changing everywhere and I have to fit in the scheme too. So I want to make a few changes too. First, my private journal will contain much more of my random thoughts. I have a lot of them and I always need to pass them on in a way. As it is I cannot share them with people around me, so I'll simply put them here. I wonder if anyone will want to read what's in my head. ^^ If you're not interested, just skip my random entries, I'm basically just collecting my thoughts.
First, some life randoms:
We're currently in Lenten Season, a tradition that is not really strict, but none-the-less important where I'm living. So, it's about things you will relinquish for a meassured amount of time. Lots of people cut on stuff like coffee, sugar and sweets, driving their cars and many other more or less creative things. I have to admit that I very seldomly pull through the entire season. For this year, though, I want to do something. I still have to decide what I want to give up, but I feel like I should. It feels like I had a kind of epiphany. The other day my phone started malfunctioning. In order to get it repaired I have to send it to a Samsung service station. The local shop employee tld me that it'll take about two weeks until I can have it back. I know this might sound stupid now, but I really didn't want to give him my phone. It felt like he was taking something from me that was really important to me - it felt like my life woud be much more inconvenient without my phone. When I'm thinking about it now these thoughts kind of shock me a bit.
When thinking about it rationally, my phone, at least the one that I have, is something I absolutely don't need. Like, seriously, anything that is on that phone I have on other devices too. Whatever I can do with it, I can do with my PC or TV. And I do have a working phone. I am in no way limied in anything I want to do. So why on earth did it feel like the end of the world to have to give it up for two weeks? How spoilt am I, actually? How unable to distinguish between important things and random stuff? So, these were my thoughts and thus I decided that the tradition to choose to give up on something, at least for a while, will give you some new perspective on things. But what should I do? I was thinking about cutting my internet and fandom time, but then I thought that it would probably actually cause dismay for some people, which is definitely not the idea. So, for a lack of any more creative idea, I'll go for new diet. Lots of healthy stuff, little to no sugar and sweets. I'll kep you up to date on how I'm doing with it. ^^
Oh, almost forgot:
Today is Valentine's day! <3 It's my brother's Saint's day, so we're celebrating that. Naturally, St. Valentine's is all about love and it's snowy and kind of romantic outside, so I'm feeling in a fiction writing mood. Let's see where this evening will get me. ^_^
Work is a bit distressful right now. My boss is in the middle of an amployee assessment, where he checks what I'm doing when at work. It's not very pleasant, so I hope that he'll soon have all the data he needs and leave me alone again, so I can do my work properly again. XD It's nothing drastic, but not pleasant either. At the same time I was informaed that I will be allowed at a work-shop where I'll get more skills and new permissions, which is totally cool and I'm very much looking forward to that.
Now for some fandom rant:
First a short summary of thoughts on the "Which JE boy is a good singer?" poll on
aramatheydidnt community. My general feeling is that I don't understand why people are still not tired of these things. There's no point in them, really. -_- But a lot of material for discussions, of course. XD Maybe that's why they're still popular. On the ranking itself I won't go on about what I think about the listing. If you're interested, here's my personal top ten list (please note, it's from my personal memory of actual live performances):
1) Domoto Tsuyoshi
2) Shibutani Subaru
3) Nagase Tomoya
4) Tegoshi Yuya
5) Uchi Hiroki
6/7/8) Domoto Koichi, Kamenashi Kazuya, Nishikido Ryo (in alphabetical order, I can't really rank them, they seem pretty similar)
9) Kusanagi Tsuyoshi (he's generally way under-rated, I think)
10) Ohno Satoshi
That much for my humble feelings about it. ^__^
I checked the Oricon charts today and was actually surprised to find Koichi's Endless SHOCK documentary topping the general AND the music DVD listings. :D Kou-chan, omedetou!!! \\\\\\((((^o^))))////// I didn't expect the documentary to hit like that, but it's a very pleasant surprise. ^___^
Naturally, I have my own copy at home and I already watched it twice. Same as any other imported DVD it doesn't have subs, but there are a lot of things that I can easily enjoy anyway. Top on the list, naturally, dance rehearsals. Not only do I know a lot about dancing and recognize a lot of the movements and patterns, but since they were training in L.A. with Travis and Stacey, who are English natives I understood a lot of what was going on there. Koichi, the 4U boys and Yaracchi were there for training, learning the choreography for the new song "Higher". A two days training, which is really not too much for one entire song - although I'm not sure if they really finished everything. Still, the selection of dancers they chose indicates that the schedule was tight. Standing next to the back-dancers, Koichi was the one who had trouble keeping up with the progress in the choreography. He's never been the fastest to catch onto patterns of movement, he needs some time to find the flow in the movement, a phenomenon I know by experience. Once it's "imprinted" in his body it comes absolutely naturally, which is why I enjoy watching him so much. No Uchi. Well, he isn't really part of the choreography. I can only imagine how difficult the complicated dancing scenes were for him to begin with. No Machida and Yone. Probably busy. Or can't fly. Or maybe the group wouldh ave been too big. Well, Yara was there. Somehow I always used to think of him as a kind of "supervisor", while by now I think of him more like the "chaotic genius". XDDD
There's much more to the documentary, though. First, the set and how they build it up. It's so amazing. So many bits and pieces work together to create the stage. The entire show has about 20 different sceneries, which is pretty impressive. It was also really cool to see text rehearsals and vocal coaching. The way Koichi would refuse to stand next to Uchi while practising harmonies, complaining that he was being too loud. XD And I just loved Uekusa during text rehearsals. His voice acting is just totally cool.
Flying rehearsals are always interesting. The falling down the stairs is something that always hurts me when I see it. I liked the detals on the costumes a lot. By now I almost know the ways around the rehearsing area. The narrow ways, the green curtain in front of Koichi's dressing room, the red elevator... ^____^
To sum it up, I enjoyed the entire about two hours long episode that generously shows at least a few highlight parts of the actual show, like the opening scene, flying scene, the balcony scene (that also has a new song now), the scene containing "Higher" and some more. Watching this made my urge to see the play again just that much stronger. Yaracchi will be acting. <3 Huge motivation. ^^ I'm not sure. In a way I think it depends on whether I'd have to go by myself. When you can share the accomodation costs there's much more room. I do find myself musing, though... September, Osaka, Nara, Hiroshima, Beppu - or I could make a detour from Tokyo and finally visit Kanazawa. Lots of possibilities. ^^ Somehow I'm thinking I'm already way too much into it again. ^^" Thoughts like "I need a smaller suitcase" followed by "and a lighter notebook" and such keep coming to my head. I won't be able to see KinKi this year anyway. I really mean it this time. ^^" I got lucky and got off work during the holidays 2 years in a row. That's not something that goes without saying and this year other people will have the opportunity to have a few days off. Makes this other option all hte more tempting. ^__^
Okay, I think I'm pretty much done for now. Fiction update to follow soon. :D
*hugs all*