87

I now know why some people cry from too much stress.

For me, I don't.

I don't cry when I'm depressed either.

I just go and sit in the corner, like a stereotypical emo kid.

86

I don't really have anything happy or nice to say.

So I won't say anything.

85 SAKURA DROPS (performed by the Warsaw National Philharmonic Orchestra)

To Kelly: Yeah, I never knew that before either. I think they did it only because avex was paying them too, though.


Work work work work work
whine whine whine whine whine
complain complain complain complain complain

I don't want to work, but I don't mind whining and complaining.

84 First Love (performed by the Warsaw Philharmonic)

I like to whine on this blog. I can do so without any fear of people labeling me as a person who complains every second. Okay, fine, they might still so. But its completely voluntary to read this blog!

And no, I'm not trying to make you stop reading this.

But anyways, I had the worst math test ever so far. Well, at the very least in Grade 8/9. Its probably not as bad as the 60 something percent I got the second time I wrote that chapter test back in Grade 7.
I completely guessed 4 questions, and about 10 I really quickly 'completed', as in look at the answers, see which one was most probable, and filled in that blank.

Oh well.

Oh, and I'm just starting to study for English.

I spent the entire day doing two pages worth of French. Don't ask me how, it was just excruciating.

And I discovered that the Warsaw Philharmonic performed about 12 of Utada Hikaru's songs as part of a 13-disc collection on a Jpop collection by avex, I think. Which is surprising, considering that Utada Hikaru isn't an avex artist.

83 Kimi wa Su.te.ki.

A tiny little bit of the stress is coming back, but it isn't so bad right now.

Oh, and by the way, you probably realized that my blog is where I complain and whine all I want and nobody is allowed to say that I'm a whiner because if you read this it would be completely voluntary.
This is just so that I won't whine and complain all day to people in person.

Does that make sense?

Anyways, I am 'trying' to complete the Grade 10 piano exam, but, well...
Yeah.

I think I'll do it.

82 Glow

I think I had to worse piano lesson to date yet.

I was playing my Bach Prelude, and I was WORSE than the second week that I played it. And I've played it for 4 months now. I don't know what happened, my fingers seem to have no energy, and even now it is.

My piano teacher, at the end of the lesson was like 'Wow, keep up the practicing, Michael! How much do you practice, 30 minutes?'

She didn't sound sarcastic. Which meant that she was lying.

(And by the way, I practice 1 hour and 30 minutes, but usually only three times every week. Which explains why I'm so bad at it. But this week was exceptionally worse, but I practiced more than last week.)

81

I handed in my memory book today, and it was really really bad, come to think of it.

I can't exactly say it was creative at all, and it REALLY wasn't on topic, and I didn't even edit it. All of the entires are just a recorded version of my thoughts, and my thoughts don't tend to be organized, so some of them were quite confusing.

And the cover, well... More on that in term 3. If you see it now, you would probably be shocked, surprised, and you would probably have a huge paradigm shift. That is, unless you know the whole story, which at the earliest would be done in Term 3.

Oh, and the daily rankings for HEART STATION/Stay Gold are in.
HS/SG are in second place:
Step & Go - Arashi - 107,689 + 39,384 (x1.75) = 257,377
HS/SG - Utada Hikaru - 8,504 + 6,898 (x1.75) = 26,953

Those numbers are the index numbers, and then the multiplier shows the actual amount of units sold.

As you can see, there is no way HS/SG is going to take weekly second.

Then again, Utada Hikaru usually sell very consistently, and doesn't have such a sharp second week drop off. Plus, she has huge digital downloads, and Arashi doesn't have any. HS is at second and SG is at third place on iTunes Japan, so I'm not worried.

But her physical sales are spiralling down...

Then again, she has an album next month with both the tracks, so not much of a incentive to buy the single.

Also, Ken Hirai is in the same position, except I'm not sure about his single sales. They're weaker than Utada Hikaru's.

But, today, HS/SG has dropped to third. Now, all I'm hoping is that it ends up second weekly...

80 Jet Lag

Hong Kong is a very small place, yet socially has been quite isolated from other places in its region because of its language, culture, and China.



That's why Hong Kong has one entire entertainment industry all to itself.



Hong Kong is at the same time big enough of a market to support many different artists/actors/etc. and small enough to have all of them known by almost every member of the public.



There aren't that many media outlets, so everybody has to appear on one or two outlets that everybody is exposed to.



It's also why that there are some people that have been in the industry for so long they are part of the public consciousness, and when they leave us, the entire city seems to be in morning.



And that is what has happened with people like Roman Tam (died October 18, 2002 of cancer):

Wikipedia: Roman Tam, known by the stage name Lo man (羅文), nickname Law Kee (蘿記) was a renowned cantopop singer. He is regarded as the "Godfather of Cantopop".[1] In the far east, he is equivalent to the western world Frank Sinatra.

BBC: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/2342029.stm

Leslie Cheung (died April 1, 2003 from suicide due to depression):

Wikipedia: Leslie Cheung Kwok-Wing (September 12, 1956 – April 1, 2003), nicknamed elder brother (哥哥), [1][2][3][4] was an actor and musician from Hong Kong. Cheung was considered as "One of the founding fathers of Cantopop," and "combining a hugely successful film and music career". [5]
In 2000, Cheung was named Asian Biggest Superstar by China Central Television, and voted as The Most Favorite Actor in 100 Years of Chinese Cinema in 2005.[6][7]

Anita Mui (died December 30, 2003 of cervical cancer): Anita Mui Yim-fong was a popular Hong Kong cantopop singer and actress. During her prime years she received numerous awards and honours. She remained an idol through out most of her career and eventually became a music legend after her passing.

And on February 19, 2008, two days ago, Lydia Shum Din-Ha (沈殿霞) died.

Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lydia_Shum

Lydia Shum also has a daughter, Joyce Cheng, that was born and raised in Vancouver. Lydia Shum herself will be buried in Burnaby beside her mother, who died just weeks before her while she was still in hospital.

Leslie Cheung was also a Canadian citizen who lived in Vancouver.

79 Jigsaw Falling Into Place

Utada Hikaru's latest single, HEART STATION/Stay Gold has been released yesterday (or was it two days ago?), along with the tracklist for her HEART STATION album.

Oh, and some people are really upset with her HEART STATION, because 'all the singles seem to be clumped together', 'Niji-iro Basu is probably a children's song because its right next to Boku wa Kuma', and 'WHAT?!?!?! ANOTHER CHILDREN'S SONG? WHAT IN THE WORLD IS SHE THINKING?', and also 'WHAT?!?!?!?! Flavor of Life as a bonus track????'

And the album hasn't even been leaked yet; nobody has heard it.

And Utada Hikaru stated herself on her blog that she believes this album to be her best to date.

Some people are really pessimistic. Or, in other words, ignorant, stupid, and too narrowminded.

I was at Reach for the Top practice and the game today, and what I noticed was that everybody was very defensive and always thinking 'sheesh, how come that guy/girl didn't get that', and generally thinking that they're better than everybody else.
Not so with debate however, we're all much more nicer.

I guess it has something to do with the nature of these two activities and the people they attract.

78 Break The Ice

Come to think of it, these days have been better for me, in terms of sleep and ability to focus.

Anyways, I need to work on the memory book. I did some of it, but I still have quite a bit to do.

77 Kremlin Dusk

Apparently exercise can help you use up the adrenaline you produce from the regular stress you face from day to day. However, even after snowshoeing and tubing, I think I still have quite a bit of adrenaline left.

Anyways, the first airing of Utada Hikaru's HEART STATION promotional lives was aired today, on HEY!HEY!HEY! Music Champ. Its a music television program.

In Japan, all the major broadcasting networks (except for NHK which is government run) have a weekly music program where all the most popular artists in Japan go and perform, promoting their latest single/album/etc. They usually have very extravagant-looking sets, all for just one song, then they switch it all up for another song. Music Station, is, in my opinion, the most extravagant of them all. Her performance this time at HEY!x3 is not the most extravagant, but I guess is the norm of HEY!x3 performances.

Back in 2006 on her Utada United tour, she hurt some of her vocal chords, but opted not to do surgery because it would have changed her voice. Instead, she sang a different way, which, according to her easier, but sounds more raspy and less 'full' (I don't know which other way to describe it). She sounds better when she sang HEART STATION (however, I have a sneaking suspicion (keyword SUSPICION) that she just MIGHT have been lip-synching SOME of it. Not that parts she ad-libbed.)

76 Tokyo Nights

I opened my email today and there were 40 emails about tomorrow's rides.
If it was handled by my elementary school teacher, or even by a student, there would be one email, and everything would be done.
Simple, quick, and effective. And done in a much more polite manner.

Instead of bickering Grade 9's who were more immature than the Grade 4's.

Oh well, it was quite amusing to read the emails actually.

75 Nichiyou no Asa

I'm having trouble thinking of things to write today...

74 Nichiyou no Asa

I've been listening to Utada Hikaru's (who else??) 'Nichiyou no Asa', which translates as Sunday Morning.

It's quite a relaxing song, and not so upbeat.

I was listening it with the lights off and nobody around, and I felt more relaxed and in tune with myself.

Oh, and from now on, the blog titles will show which song is my favourite of the day. Since I gave up on the weekly top 10 anyways. And I do miss having blog titles.

73

Usually, when you're talking to somebody like a counsellor, you're supposed to feel really good afterwards, right?
For some reason, after talking to one, I felt terrible. However, on the other hand, I thought that the counsellor was awesome, and told me much more than what the other doctors and counsellors had told me.

Anyways, Amy Winehouse was the star of the Grammy's a couple of days ago. Which I didn't watch.
Oh well.

And from now on, I will finish all my work and start getting ready for sleep at 10:30.
I didn't really do anything I said I'll do before, but I think this is more easily acheivable.

72

Utada Hikaru's new HEART STATION music video!

This is considered somewhat of a landmark moment for some of her fans, as it is considered her first 'real' PV (promotional video) after her divorce.
Her husband, Kazuaki Kiriya, used to direct her music videos, but stopped after their divorce early in 2007. His videos were known for their creativity, and seemed like abstract art.
Since her divorce, she has had 4 PV's before Heart Station. Boku wa Kuma had a completely animated PV starring her teddy bear, Flavor of Life ~(Ballad Version)~ was a live PV of her recording the song in the studio, and Beautiful World/Kiss & Cry both had PV's that were just clips of the 'Evangelion: 1.0 You Are (Not) Alone' animated movie. So, none of them were considered 'real' (aka bearing some relevance to regular PV's) until HEART STATION.
Then, they still complained.
Quite a bit said that it was uninspiring, and boring.
However, some said that it was uninspiring and boring, while being deep, emotional, and touching at the same time.

Anyways, its only 7 days or so until her single is released, and a bit over month before her album hits the shelves!!!!

________________________________________
Yesterday, for the AMC 10 math contest, I filled out the scantron in pen. (I lent my pencil the day before to HLa and I didn't get it back.) Oh well. It's not an important contest anyway, since it probably won't have any affect on my eligibility for Math 10E.

And I really should start taking notes for debate...

71

Hm...

I dont know what to say right now.

Well, anyways, my iTunes play counts have been reset, and right now Leona Lewis's Bleeding Love and Utada Hikaru's Heart Station are the top two most played songs. They're both pretty good.

70

To Kelly: You're right. I haven't been able to do any of those things yet....

I WILL do it tomorrow!!!!

Now, I need to work on homework.

I sort of slept for 5 hours in the afternoon, so I didn't really get anything done...

69

I cant find anything to express my disappointment, sadness, and anger right now.

Anyways, the gist of it is that we ran out of ink. Then, the ink toner that my mum bought in Japan could not be 'recognized' by our printer.

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

68

All of the things I mentioned on yesterday's blog will be done by Monday.

67

From now on, I will:
Do 30 minutes of meditation every morning
Do 30 minutes of yoga/other exercise every day
Complete a daily timetable
Complete a weekly to-do list
Create a list of priorities
Create a policy regarding distractors (such as games, Wikipedia, U*Blog, etc.)

66

From now on, I will stop talking about my science fair project and its progress to anyone.
For some reason, it seems that other people care about it way more than I do. And not in a good way at all.
Some people think that I'm very lucky to get an extension, and I'm sure they're quite jealous. Even though I haven't got an extension yet, and it doesn't matter me.
And some people think I just procrastinated, and that's why I didn't finish it.
One person went up to me and told me that if he was in my position, then maybe, just maybe, he would have worked harder. After that, he chuckled.
Yes. Exactly. Like I didn't consider that.

Okay, so that's the last you'll hear of my science project this year!

65

To Kelly: Actually, I haven't gotten an extension. And I highly doubt I will ever get one.

But, to be honest, I don't really care.
The project's only worth 20 percent, and I'm going to get 30% off if I hand it in on Monday, which I absolutely must, so that's only 6 % off the term mark. I'll probably be able to pull a B, albeit a very low one. Hopefully.

And I feel very very lucky to be just able to hand it in late. Later on in life, I probably won't be able to.

64

Everybody seemed to be more worried about the fact that I haven't handed in my science project than me.

I do appreciate the attention, but it makes me feel like an attention grabber. Well, I guess I am. Especially in my blog.

I talked to Miss Hu, she might give me an extension, but that is based on what Mr. Ehrmantraut says.
And I'm way way way WAY worse now than when I last saw him.
Last time I saw him, I was only having sleeping problems.
Now, I don't have that much sleeping problems at all, because I'm tired to a very high level 100% of the time, and I have difficulty concentrating on anything really, except for simple tasks like blogs. For example, I find it very hard to do conclusions, and actively listen and comprehend.

My head still feels so heavy....

63

Well...

Not much different today is from yesterday.

I'm probably going to hand in the science project a day or two late.

Or not at all.

62

I am sorely tempted to see if I can pull a B and not hand in my science project.
That would be a blessing...

Well, anyways, I'm not really in a position to work.

I can't think straight.

I can't even keep my head up.

I don't think I'll go to school tomorrow.

I didn't do anything for a full three hours because I couldn't concentrate at all and felt extremely weak.

I like to whine.

I like having a blog. It gives me a place to complain all I want.

I'm dizzy.

Okay.
I'm finish complaining now.

Well, all I have to do is my entire science project write up, which I'm not even anywhere near starting.

That's nice to know, isn't it?

61

I went a little bit crazy last night.

This morning I felt I was being tortured alive.

I honestly don't really care whether other people think I'm a whiner or not, because I'm still going to whine and annoy everybody who reads this blog.

(It's your fault. Except for Mr. Olson's.)

60

I predict that I will not be able to sleep well from tonight until at the very least Monday night.

I'll probably be too stressed to sleep well.

I tried doing some yoga this week, and it helped the first two times I did it, but even though I do feel slightly relaxed now after doing it, I'm still pretty tense.