Mid-december

I have noticed that it's already mid-december. Gosh.
Where did the time go?
Just when i pray it'd get less busy it's already that Pre-new-year craze.
. . .
Maybe i'd skip all the 'necessities ' and just sleep as long as my heart desires. Who needs parties anyways?

Friedrich Nietzsche

Every church is a stone on the grave of a god-man: it does not want him to rise up again under any circumstances.

December

Recently, I haven't been writing in my blog.
Why?
Eh, I guess I've been busy with other things - like work - and in my free time I was writing about 2000 words per day on 750words. Got some inspiration and decided to try and finish another thing I've been writing.
It's not surprising that I'm better at 10-20k words short novels, because it's the amount one can easily write in a week and one week is a period when I still can hold onto my inspiration and avoid distractions.

Also, I've been watching City Hunter 2011 (kor) and it's time-consuming (20 episodes 1 hour each). Strangely, I like it despite main actors' acting. The catch can lay in the fact that in this version of City Hunter a hero strives to fight corrupt politicians, which is very up-to-date issue.
Anyhow, the story of city hunter is very popular and had dozens of interpretations. This is yet another of them, good so far, but indeed different in many aspects.

Japanese roads

Read a story about Japanese roads.
Sometimes in towns special carvings are made on asphalt, that when you approach an intersection at speed less than 60km/hour you hear a melody of a national song.

Clients

Clients seem to feel when I am drinking coffee or went to corner shop to buy food, because they start ringing me up like crazy while I am at it.
Such is my fate it seems.

T.E.S.

I don't fancy those dungeon 'three button riddles' they offer throughout T.E.S.V.

Here's the solution for Folgunthur riddle : dragon, bird, bird (bottom to top).

TES

A glimpse into what TES 5 can draw.
Quite appealing, though they say the game itself is just another Oblivion.

希望の歌 － Song of Hope

Found this cover and I like it :)

Pic

Somehow this picture appeals to me.
Honestly don't know why, but I find it nice :)

Artist: Ertac Altinoz

Roads n fun

Today I witnessed entirely Russian scene in the road.
Imagine this: 4-line busy road. Two men run across it 20m from the street light and crosswalk. When they reach the middle a huv stops near them blocking the traffic to ask for directions.

Recently

Ok, to summarize recent events.

It's November already. I remember October starting and now bang - it's November. I spoke to a friend who described the same sensation or rather a feeling of lost time.
Where did those 4 weeks go to?
Everything got crumpled into one huge nightmarish day with no beginning or ending.
Uff.

I'm still not finished with my projects. I guess I typed more last month than I did whole previous year.
10k symbols per day don't look big now. I think I could do 20k per day if I had to.

Been thinking about life in general : it's been 3 years since I graduated uni. 3 years and yet what do I do?
Those years seem like an utter failure.
Ofc I should have known better than graduating in 2009 with diploma in economics and finance. Don't think they would be in demand given last events in the world. As it looks now it'd take 3 to 5 more years to see economy grow a little. If we're lucky.
So I have to lump it and continue respecing.

I believe the struggle for financial freedom isn't fair,
I believe the only ones who disagree are millionaires.

Remember that song?

Eh well. Our country is going to hell anyways.

Also I got myself new Korean textbooks. Gotta study some more. But as it is now I May pretty much embark upon learning Korean in addition to Japanese. Since people already understand my Japanese without difficulties I may consider similar language.
Yes, Korean is similar to Japanese.
Too bad I can't type Japanese or Korean on my tab. A pity really. I can't communicate with my Japanese friends without access to my pc.

Going to sleep

Going to sleep at 4am yet again.
How long has it been since i slept at night?
Slept in oh so many meanings.
My nightmares are back. Now they play slightly different strings of my soul, but they're still there.
Yes, there.

Something good for a change?
We've installed dish washing machine today.
One more reason to rejoice and spent money.

VN

Working on my own vn. Been busy last few days.
Also work fever is still there. . .
And also there's that thing that begins with m. It always occupies my thoughts.
:-(

OHSHC

Today I accidentally found out that there's OHSHC TV drama (Ouran High School Host Club). So naturally I decided to take a peek and watch some... well, what can I say?
Voice actors in anime did AWESOME JOB. Those so-called actors in drama are so pitiful trying to pretend they're acting the part... really, most of them got neither looks, nor talent for acting and yet...
The biggest disappointment is Tamaki: since he's the center of the show he should be able to ACT, but omg, he's so shallow and boring. You don't believe a thing he says.

I made this chart (edited a part of it) to represent new adaptation of OHSHC:

Verdict: directors and cast destroyed what could be a hit.

Just a funny art

This made me laugh, oh yes indeed.
Made very character-like :)

Steins;gate

Finished watching Steins;gate.
What can I say about it?
I like 5pb and nitroplus visual novels. Though this time it's a bit illogical. . . Why? Well, you can't tell that without spoilers. But all that illogical stuff is generously compensated by emotion and tension, so it looks good. I guess in vn itself they showed more and answered more questions.

Story is: a group of three friends (self-proclaimed mad scientist aka Okarin, hacker Daru, cosplay fan Mayuri ) accidentally invent a method to send messages into the past. They begin to experiment with it and achieve unexpected results. . . But just before the first message sent into the past Okarin finds well-known young scientist Makise Kurisu murdered. The most interesting part is, the next day he meets her as nothing had happened. And things start to get really complicated.
Story features time travel, conspiracies, attempts to change world order, traitors and a lot of drama. Death and blood too.

Picture shows all main characters(from left to right): Moeka, Mayuri, Makise Kurisu, Rukako, Suzuha, Ferris, Daru, Okabe Rintarou aka Okarin. Overall impression good. First 4 episodes are kind of slow though, before you get used to nonsense Okarin says and other stuff.

---------
And now some spoilers.
Some interesting facts: Okarin worked so hard in the end to fool another himself about Makise and blood, but easily changed the past taking out metal upa.
If the conference was cancelled after satellite fell, how did professor get a file? Or in beta timeline Cern gets machine from Okarin?
How did Okarin manage to escape killers all those times to get to machine? He was captured quite a few times.
How Mr. Brown got to be a Fb is a complete mystery. Life of Mr. Brown doesn't seem to change despite appearance and subsequent non-appearance of Suzuha in 1975. But maybe that is the answer to previous question.
How Cern intercepted the message is another dark mystery.
How jelly man paradox was solved is yet another mystery. But oh well. There would be no possible happy ending the other way. . .
And another thing : at first they show us that future rewrites itself when past is changed and then in the end they go for multiple layer change. Change the past to let thing that changed the past happen.

Quote

Be good and if you can't be good, be careful

wearethe99%

Some recent additions to we are the 99 %.
You can find these entries there, but I add them anyways just for example.

Cigarette

Should I be honoured looking sympathetic enough to be asked to buy cigarettes for underage?
When I see 13y.o.'s smoke I feel like getting children is for extreme optimists.

We are the 99% blog

US blog where people share their stories of life and 'un-success': http://wearethe99percent.tumblr.com/

Main idea is simple and true - about 1% of Earth's population owns 99% of valuables and money. So that blog is a place where people from 99% can share what they have experienced and think.
Another look into 'happy' America. Looks like my country to me.

KAT-TUN - DIAMOND

I like this song very much. That's pretty much it.

TRANSLATION (RUS) here

Arabian saying

A close neighbour is better than a distant brother.

Lately

Haven't written here for a long time.
Mainly because everything i have to say is plainly pessimistic.
Also because i have caught cold and not feeling well.
Everyone in my family has cold now and i guess it began with my brother's wife. . .
Heh
Piles of work, lack of sleep and motivation, rare meals, what else a person needs to dive into depression?

Heavy thoughts

Going to sleep at 5am AGAIN.
if I were to tell what's on my mind now, it'd be too gloomy even for me to bear.
Life is constantly giving me reasons for . . . contemplation.
I still don't know whether to like it (life) or hate it.
I still don't know, maybe tomorrow would be my last day.
Oh yeah. We all don't know.
But not every of us has to think about that on a daily basis.

Blasted w***

I guess i should change my attitude towards people with stupid demands. Today i got worked up because of some stupid web site, yet another web site and incoherent clients. I should have known better than that. After all, they don't give a dam' about me.
If i were to die because of their stupid business, they wouldn't bother and never consider themselves guilty in any way. So why the hell i should give a dam' about them at all?
An air of polite attention is the best they should get from me. Impolite if they should act rum.
Yep, that's the way it should be.

My lord often tells me i should believe in good people. Good people in this world eh?
To that i can answer like J. Jerome : that is my opinion in general. I do not deny that there may be honourable exceptions, i truly wish that There're some. But personally i rarely met them.
You may remember that story of his about tow-lines. . .

Epic Architectural Fail and Yet Another Fail

#1

This is actually a newly built residential complex in Shanghai, China. 

On the morning of June 27, 2009, one of the buildings toppled over, just barely missing an adjacent building. Had it not missed, it might have caused a horrifying domino effect.

The building that fell just awaited tenants to move in and therefore only one person died in the accident and a few more were injured.

#2

This is a hotel in Las Vegas, featuring unique curved structure.
However on a sunny day inner surface of building collects solar rays and projects them as a ray into the swimming pool area, regularly burning skin and possessions of guests. Thankfully, no casualties there.

5 most hated jobs in U.S. (and I can see why)

When I say 'hated' I mean people who have those jobs hate them.

1. Director of Information Technology

IT directors reported the highest level of dissatisfaction with their jobs, far surpassing that of any waitress, janitor, or bellhop. Of those who responded to the survey, one simple, five-word response summed up the antipathy very well: "Nepotism, cronyism, disrespect for workers."

2. Director of Sales and Marketing

Sales and marketing directors reported the second-highest level of job dissatisfaction of all survey respondents. The majority who responded negatively cited a lack of direction from upper management and an absence of room for growth as the main sources of their ire.

3. Product Manager

The level of job dissatisfaction was very high for this position. One respondent complained that it restricted growth, saying that it was "very hard to grow up the ranks." Another was less polite and said "the work is boring and there's a lot of clerical work still at my level."

4. Senior Web Developer

Senior developers reported a high degree of unhappiness in their jobs, attributable to a perception their employers are unable to communicate coherently, and lack an understanding of the technology.

5. Technical Specialist

Technical specialists reported that for all their expertise, they were treated with a palpable level of disrespect. They cited a "lack of communication from upper management" and felt their "input was not taken seriously."

Bride

Took some time to finish another drawing of mine - bride. Now it's 99% done.
Wonder when I'll do 1% that's left. . .

Lottery ticket

Bought my very first lottery ticket today.

Why?
Because few days ago I was walking past paybox terminal and noticed they feature national lottery too. And something started nagging me to buy a ticket, but I was with my lord and he'd think I'm crazy. So I just walked past it. And today I found out that in that precise round of lottery someone won more than $700k.
not that I think I'm gonna win something - on the contrary, I think my $1 is totally wasted - but I did it to come to peace with myself.

Proverb

Everybody's business is nobody's business.

Asylum

I swore to myself i won't write about politics here and i won't.
I just wanna say that today when I was heading back from a meeting in the center of the city and decided to walk to Klovskaya underground station I had to pass Kreshatyk and other savory places.
You know what's going on there now, right?
Those shouting megaphones are really persistent.
But walking past them is utterly disgusting.
Congratulations, people.
We're living not only in garbage bin, but also in asylum and prison - armed asylum I guess.

Our *dear* city

Yesterday when I was walking the town I got the clearest idea how much I despise it.
Dirty streets, awful street cover, unfriendly people, street traders and street thieves, youth and schoolboys drinking vodka before 4pm, primary schoolboys swearing like sailors, heavily painted schoolgirls with cigarettes and beer and swearing too. . .
Our city - no, our country - is really a garbage bin.

It's hard to think how one is supposed to build a future in such conditions.

Real-life image of Saturn

Real-life image of Saturn

The shot is taken by NASA's Cassini robotic orbiter and was captured from the dark side of Saturn as the Sun's bright rays illuminated every piece of dust and debris circling the planet.

Cool eh?

Original size here

Coffee

Tired.
To the extent that I put a pot with ground coffee and sugar on the stove without pouring water in.
Good thing is I realized it immediately.
bad thing is I am tired.

Tanpopo - Last Kiss

I found this old song and listened to it too many times yesterday I guess :)
(it is also known as ED of Sorcerer Stabber Orphen)



Tanpopo - Last Kiss

本当にスキだったあなたがいない
初めての恋終わった
今夜は夢に笑顔のままで
出てこないだよね

最後のセリフ口に出すまで
困ってたあなた
最後のセリフ口にしたすぐ後
なのに口づけ

唇にだけ
止めてよあなたの温もりが
唇にだけ
ずっと残ってる
優しいあなた

本当に何もわからないまま
あなた信じて終わった
明日はあなたのキライな色の
ｆ服を着てみるは
あなたのアドレス消してやったは
写真も捨てたは
あなたの全て思いで消したのよ
なのにどうして


唇にだけ
どんなに忘れようとしても
唇にだけ
ずっと残ってる
最後のあなた

[REPEAT]

Middle age

Middle age is when you have a choice of two temptations and choose one that will get you home earlier.

Late evening and lone supper

It's evening, 9pm. I'm sitting alone in the kitchen and eat my supper. Alone as I said.
Before we went to the cemetery to visit mother's grave, since today is her birthday. Some people from her class came too, though most of them were irritating me.
Then we came home near 7.30pm and I tried to get my men to eat. They denied food and about 8pm went to take a nap.
I made supper in anticipation that they would wake up hungry, but the two of them seem to want more sleep. While I don't feel sleepy at all.
I got hungry and made myself some food.And
Now I sit here and we're back where we began.

My mood. . .
On evenings like this I get the strong feeling of not belonging to where I am, like it all is a big huge mistake and I should be somewhere else. Or be someone else.
A feeling of looking at yourself from third person view, something like that.
It is a very strange feeling.
Overwhelmed by a sense of mortality and fleeting moments, am I now?

Today also I made my mind about my plans for future 3 years if I were to survive this year.
Maybe I will put them down in private record, for the annals.

Reading a book about crime in disabled's house. Not very funny or amusing if you ask me, but its severity complements my mood.

A quote from it (book):
"regretfully he understood that despite being 17 Peter carried all loads of cynicism middle age can offer".

Takes me back to thinking over "jaded" as a word.

French

Je n'ai pas écrit quelque chose en français pendant un an. J'ai l'habitude de lire des articles et des livres en français. Autre que cela, je n'utilise pas beaucoup le français.
Aujourd'hui, j'ai lu quelques articles en français et a décidé de voir ce qu'il reste de ma connaissance.

J'ai été complètement déçu.
J'ai appris le français dans les jours d'école.
D'une certaine manière ma capacité à écrire en français a été réduit à de simples phrases. Quand j'écris, je dois arrêter et vérifier les livres de grammaire ou de dictionnaires, même si, quand je lis, je me sens confortable et presque confiante.

Je n'ai jamais utiliser le français pour travaille et dans dernièrement j'ai rarement l'utiliser du tout.
Être capable de comprendre une langue est une chose; être capable de l'utiliser est une autre chose.

Je me dis souvent «Je peux apprendre le français si je fais un effort». Mais est-ce vrai?

[Mais aujourd'hui j'ai enfin rappelé pourquoi je écrivent parfois «confortable» (en anglais) au lieu de «comfortable»] ^^

Who is it?

Saw this on yahoo.

Try to guess whose high school picture this is:

I dare say that it was the only person I guessed in a series of "celebrities' high school pictures" article.

Nationality talk

Had a mood to run doing bosses with random parties in Allods online. Met few people from various corners of Europe.
As usually my cleric was a hit of the day or savior of the party. . . Funny how you get into a raid (5+ character party) with three other priests and only you can heal. Others are dd conversions. . .
But nevermind. What I wanted to say is this old talk in a new old manner.
We were doing bosses as I said (Ugluk, Kosmach, whatever) and I met a person from Sweden with whom we formed a party for an hour or so. Later on some English person joined into the talk and started bugging us with who are you questions. The dialogue was typical, but I will write it down here.
Englishman: Where are you from people?
Swedish man: I am Swedish
E: And you?
Me: I am Ukrainian.
E: :O
S: it's a nationality man
E: ? ? ?
Me: it's a country near Russia
E: oh, how come you speak English? They don't speak English in Russia
me: now I start to get offended
S: people learn languages

That was pretty much it but it's very typical. People think that this country is barbaric (which it is to some extent ) and all who dwell in it are considered stupid barbarians. Even though I'm ukrainian I don't like being considered that. And yes I sometimes have to tell people that bears do not roam our main streets and we don't live in taiga. . .
Russia and Ukraine are so deeply entwined in minds of some people that it's almost impossible to separate those two images.

Allods

Started to play Allods online again on EU servers. Actually started a new character, kanian healer.
Maybe in some time I would go back to my druid character since I love my battle pet Mr. Chew.
As it is EU servers are ok at low levels, while after lv 40 it'd be hard to play without money. We'll see, I rarely stick around for endgame.

Future and present

Today we've performed burial ceremony for grandmother.
We had to contact the church and get many other details done.
Also I haven't slept well in a week. In the morning I almost overslept and was risen by phone call rather than my alarm clock.
Dad was looking sad but tough today. I guess this all is twice as hard on him.
Lots of work to do and even more to follow. I have no idea how were going to run our business starting next week. . .
As in that article I read when I was little 'I should win a lottery ' .

Maybe

Maybe this world is another world's hell.

Summer

So much for summer when I turned 25: nothing but horrible events.
I drastically changed my opinion on life in general and can't say it's good.
Now that summer is gone I can't keep but miss all the things I could have done.
Time isn't going to turn back even on small things.

Miller

Maybe all that one can hope for is to end up with right regrets.

Fromm

Maturity is the capacity to endure uncertainty.

Russians

Only Russians can come to a non-russian web resource and start complaining about the fact that nobody speaks Russian there.

Sunburn

The day before yesterday I got a terrible sunburn. We were digging up potatoes when it hit me. Strangely my right hand is what suffered most.
Even A's burnt his back, while he almost never succumbs to it.
My hand hurts, but let us believe it's going to be ok.

18

Testing a camera on a night view of my 18th storey.

Funeral

We had to take arms in sea of troubles and organize a funeral for N. K. I wish my previous notes weren't so useful.
Everyone else in the family was so shocked that they couldn't think straight. That's how lead came to us.
I hope everything was ok and she won't be mad at us. We tried our best. . .
Today someone said men are supposed to leave earlier while women are to live longer. It doesn't always work that way. Death is always a shock and I don't want to make plans who is supposed to leave first. The thought itself terrified me. There're things you just don't wanna talk and even think about.

My health is so-so now, can't get enough sleep. Also I get thrilled every time a phone rings. Guess I started to hate phones. . .

Lots of work getting postponed again >.<

Another death

Yesterday(23th) A.'s grandmother died in sleep. We were raised at 7am with these news.
It was a shock for me, I admit. I even had my blood pressure measured by ambulance team and they told me it was 155/90, quite high for me. They gave me some drugs and told me to drink my regular drugs and consult a doctor. I guess I will do so when I get a chance. This pressure thing started after May happening.
Now I feel a bit better. Though I strongly feel afraid of calls in the morning.

She didn't live 2 more days to celebrate 55 years of marriage. We buried her the day of her anniversary. . .

Moderation and caffeine levels

Moderation and caffeine levels

A moderate intake of caffeine for an adult is about 300 mg a day.

Average caffeine rates:

Instant coffee: 75mg per per 6-ounce cup
Brewed coffee: 80mg-135mg, per 7-ounce cup
Espresso: 100mg per 2 ounces
Brewed tea: 50mg per 6-ounce cup
Energy drinks: 28-87mg per 8-ounce glass
Cola drinks: 8-53 mg per 8-ounce glass
Other soft drinks: 24mg per 8-ounce glass
Chocolate: 5.5-35.5mg per 1.7 ounces

[found this somewhere on yahoo, don't remember where]

Weekend

We planned to have some rest this weekend, but looks like we won't. It's always work.
Work, work, work.
I just want peace and peaceful days.
And hell - now I know what health really means.

Children

My neighbour, a woman of 30-something, is pregnant again. . . And her 1st child just stopped crying the nights, the little girl is about 2 now.
Now it all is going to repeat again.
Besides what are you going to do with 2 children nowadays. It's hard enough to bring one up.

. . .

Feel like playing something post apocalyptic. Can't find my Fallout 3 Las Vegas though. Maybe I'd better install Swan Song instead? Will upgrade my Japanese reading while playing. Or just finish Remember11. . .

Marriage

You are married if every day you worry more about feeding your flock than choosing what to wear to work ^^

Prediction and dentist

Went to a dentist today.
Spent half an hour waiting and then half an hour sonic cleaning my teeth. At first we made an appointment to replace filling on my front teeth, but she was very busy with emergency patients and couldn't concentrate on me. So I had to move my filling appointment to August 31st.
What a shame since I was ready for it. Morally and money-wise.
Cannot really blame her.
As I modified one man's saying 'The best prediction you can make is be 99% sure that a man standing in front of you that you are about to shoot from your gun is going to die'. Anything else is beyond our power of assurance and prediction.

Sleep

Drank coldrex yesterday and feeling a bit better today. Also had a good sleep in a warm and quiet place.
Nothing like sleep to lift your spirits.

Cold

Got a terrible headache. Been suffering from it the whole day. Seems like I got cold.
These colds are getting on my nerves. Maybe it is still the one from April following me. :'(
others also seem to have problems with colds. I saw many people coughing in the streets. Is it some kind of virus maybe?

Hellawork

Finished testing a project. Fine, got a rc. Will do for tomorrow. Lots of work on new project though.
Also I have to go shopping tomorrow morning.

Creativity

Here's an example of Japanese creativity: to cut electricity usage on cooling air inside buildings they invented 'green curtains' which not only prevent direct sunshine from heating rooms, but also produce grocery products. 

Photos below:

Android

It is convenient using android device for text input and blogging. How do you think why lately I write so many short posts?
And swear at XT9?
Too bad the application i am using now doesn't support posting to 2 blogs at a time.

Well well well. Now XT9 insists there is no word "blog". Kinda funny I find it.

Work #2

As tired as I am now I still maintain the ability to think straight. Wonderful isn't it?
Oh yeah sure.
Did my flash work. Should be proud of myself, but I am not really. All the embedding work was done using standard procedures. And yet it works.
Will require some polishing though.
If i am lucky one project will be completed tomorrow.

Work again

Going to get my short sleep - from 4am till 7am.
Working on a project again.
The only thing that still keeps me going is fleeing dream of having some rest.

Head in the clouds

Last few days I have been daydreaming most of the time. Daydreaming as in "having my head preoccupied with minor things and stuck on something that doesn't really matter". So now I have things piled up on me till Wednesday.

Basking in the sun

I just adore my cat when she is lying on the windowsill. Cats basking in the sun are the most jolly and cute cats.

Sunday

Sunday.
Father fancied total cleaning and moving furniture.
As long as it makes him happy I guess. Though now I have to take part in it.

. . .

Lol.
My previous posts' title is awesome.
That's XT9 for you XD
though typing is really faster.

Summer I nights

As much as I love summer I hate street companies roaming the streets at night. Also I hate listening to those punks shouting and grumble and making out near my windows. Why don't you get a room, folks, and do all you wanna do there?
And those drunk and aggressive 'men's that are always ready to cause trouble?
As much as I love summer i hate summer streets at night.

Accidents

Such is the essence of life that matters of grave importance often present themselves as purely accidental.

Weather

This weather is tiring. . . Making me sleepy and apathetic. Also it got almost cold somehow.

. . .

Water that is too pure has no fish

Time eats

Even the strongest alliances and the best relationships eventually fall apart if not nurtured properly. Without proper nourishment body and soul wither too, getting weary, old and failing.

On popularity of certain entertainment genre

I think I know why most people are so interested and obsessed with love, affairs and such things. Why fiction and drama 'with love angle' is so popular.
Basically, our life is just a 'mortal coil', endless struggle for survival in the mud. It has no obvious meaning whatsoever and it is usually dull.
Plain and dull.
It gets almost impossible to bear life as it presents itself often. Endless and meaningless struggle often makes you wanna give up and just. . . Give up. Accept the fact that life f#ckd you and just let it do what it pleases afterwards. At times like that you wouldn't mind dying. Everything's gray and joyless and you just don't care anymore. I know the feeling, it has visited me few times already. At different times, though.
So whenever you let that feeling get to you, you are screwed big time.

Lovey-dovey stuff, romance and affairs provide an escape, a way to chase away that doomsday feeling and occupy your mind with something else than treacherous daily life.
Everyone needs an escape.
So that's why soap drama and romantic comedies are popular nowadays: people need to fight the nagging voice inside that tells them to give up.

Rain

Been walking out in the rain. Again. N-th time in a week. Retrospectively speaking, I came in at a good time. Right before it started pouring rain from a bucket.

Harry Dresden files #13

Today I finished reading book 13 in Harry Dresden series. It has been published recently abd I found it by mere chance. It has been about half a year since I finished reading the series up to book 12 and I completely forgot about it.
Book 13 is called "A Ghost Story" and tells a story of main hero being dead and in spiritual form. . . roamong the streets of Chicago of course.
The plot itself was predictable BECAUSE there's going to be book 14. Meaning ~I'm not really spoilering ~ Dresden is going to get alive again by the end of the book. Bah, who would have guessed. . .
Overal, book is 7/10. Series are kinda getting less interesting. Well, it has been more than 10 years for heroes and the author - no wonder the creativity went down.

random rumblings

Some of this days I keep on feeling that everything around me is just a long horrible dream. Sadly, it's not.
Even if I voice my concern, what would it yield?

It doesn't get easier. No matter what you think.

As my father says, it's bad that things happen to other people. But that pretty much doesn't make bad things happening to you just.

** I have had a headache whole day.

初音ミク ー Alice (Hatsune Miku 'Alice' перевод на русский)

Recently I've been listening to this... too often I guess.

遠い、遠い笑えない話
tooi, tooi waraenai hanashi
давняя, давняя несмешная история

いつか、僕が居なくなったなら
itsuka, boku ga inakunatta nara
если однажды я исчезну

深い、深い森に落ちた
fukai, fukai mori ni ochita
упав в глубокий, глубокий лес

君は一人で行くんだぜ
kimi ha hitori de yuku n da ze
ты идешь один

繋いだ手には柔らかな体温
tsunaida te ni ha yawarakana taion
в протянутой руке нежное тепло тела
握った指がゆるり、ほどけたら
nigitta yubi ga yururi, hodoketara
сжатые пальцы если неспешно отпущу

 枯れた音色の鐘が鳴る
kareta neiro no kane ga naru
зазвенит эхо ослабевающего тембра

君は一人で行くんだぜ
kimi ha hitori de yuku n da ze
ты идешь один

そのまま二人歩んで一人
sono mama futari ayunde hitori
так оно и есть, двое идут одни
嘘付く声も　もう絶え絶えに
usotsuku koe mo mou taedae ni
лгущий голос тоже уже невнятен

うつむき二人影が一つ
utsumuki futari kage ga hitotsu
лежащая на замле тень двоих одна
僕も独りで行くんだぜ
boku mo hitori de yuku n da ze
я тоже иду в одиночестве

君は淡い恋に落ちた
kimi ha awai koi ni ochita
ты влюбился мимолетно

高い、高い崖に咲く花
takai, takai gake ni saku hana

на высоком, высоком обрыве цветет цветок

「届かないなぁ」
"todokanai naa"
"не достать"
分かってるくせに
wakatteru kuse ni
понимаешь и несмотря на это

今度は一人で行くんだぜ
kondo ha hitori de yuku n da ze
в этот раз идешь один

遠い、遠い笑えない話
tooi, tooi waraenai hanashi
давняя, давняя несмешная история

いつか、僕が居なくなったなら
itsuka, boku ga inakunatta nara
если однажды я исчезну

深い、深い森に落ちた
fukai, fukai mori ni ochita
упав в глубокий, глубокий лес

君は一人で行くんだぜ
kimi ga hitori de yuku n da ze
ты идешь один

following previous post - browser usage stats from w3schools.com

The question is - what's with opera in my statistics?
Three months ago it was 3rd, not 1st...

on html and css

Sometimes when I read something like this:

.arrow-left {

width: 0;

height: 0;

border-top: 10px solid transparent;

border-bottom: 10px solid transparent;

border-right:10px solid blue;

}

I think that some people got nothing better to do.

Ok, this example is primitive, but I saw a demo of multicolor icons done via css 3 transformations and pseudo elements.

The question is... what for? To show off? We came to era of advanced graphics just to get back to drawing in primitive shapes?

Ofc I understand that they implemented all those transformation possibilities not just for people who dislike pictures in their designs, but also to make some tasks simpler, but ... BUT.

I prefer to take it as in: 'if they don't show off the features nobody would use them and they would occasionally die'.

Ofc html 5 and css 3 were implemented for people to use them. But I hate to think how long it would take at least countries like USA to switch to full support of them. By that time I guess html 7 would be out ^^. And here... in a country where majority of office workers with win XP still use IE6 >.<

I can't afford using any of it. That's why I didn't learn many 'new tricks and ticks' yet. What's the point in knowing how you COULD do it when you know you WON'T?

Though I patiently wait for IE6 to vanish. Slowly learning new things...

----

I just checked. Statistically (my sites only though) 50% of users who browse the net using IE use IE6.

Strangely enough since the last time I checked (about 3 months ago) Opera is now the most common browser (though it beats firefox by 2-3%, which is nothing really). Next is Firefox. Then IE.

Now the chart looks like this:

Opera 30(-33)%

11+ 85%

10.? 15%

Firefox 30%

5.0 35%

4.? 20%

3.? 45%

IE 20%

6.0 50%

8.0 35%

7.0 10%

9.0 5%

Chrome 15%

Others  …

Meaning at least 10% of our auditory uses IE6. Some would say 'it's not much'.  

Tough it depends. Ask anyone - having extra 10% visitors and potential buyers is better than having 0% extra visitors and potential buyers.

Usual scenario: your contractor himself uses brand new or almost brand new notebook, while his workers use XP and IE6 to work. And since they will have to work with site and know nothing new, want nothing new, etc. you should optimize for IE6. And they heard it all can work in IE 6 as well. You just have to work on it, but that is what you are here to do, right? To work?

Each time it happens I struggle not to send them to hell. But hey - I'm still not in the position to choose too much. At least not for reasons like this...

Ok, that was spin-off. I admit it. But this time I'd be building a site that works in IE 7 or even 8 and Firefox 3.5+ which is a change. Time to be glad? Though I'm not... not too much.

старо, но меня улыбнуло

SWO - Sword Art Online by Kawahara Reki

Yesterday I had trouble sleeping and read volumes 1-4 of Sword Art Online (ソードアート・オンライン) novel series by Kawahara Reki ( 川原礫). 

Original story of SWO Aincrad was written in distant 2002 and - I checked - it is also the year when famous .HACK: SIGN anime series aired.

You can easily spot similarities in SWO and .HACK. But if .HACK features a single person trapped in a virtual MMORPG without option to log out, SWO tells us a story of a world with around 10,000 people of the same fate.

While .HACK focuses on phenomena of virtual world, virtual life and tries to speculate what life (in real and virtual world) is, SWO focuses on subjective drama of main characters. 

 Main characters which are, of course, high school students. .HACK went further than that. Ok, ok, I'd try to refrain from comparing to .HACK too much, but analogy is too obvious to miss.

So, we have a main character by the nickname Kirito, a lonely swordsman in a game where to get back to real world and real life characters in-game must beat 100 levels of dungeons and bosses. 

He meets a girl by the name Asuna from a mighty guild and they become engaged in a relationship while trying to escape the game.

That's pretty much it. The whole story simplified (or maybe not really simplified).

Let me tell you that in .HACK we had a big group of main characters, though the main plot evolved around a character unable to log out from a game world - a world where something like that shouldn't happen. That is a difference, I agree. In .HACK being unable to return to a real world is considered a peculiarity and something impossible too, while in SWO the fact is forced upon all players. That is a clay from which one could build a good story - but sadly Kawahara focuses on affairs of teenage love more than on anything else. 

Yes, yes, I know. It is a light novel, it is supposed to be plain. And entertaining. As author wrote in annotation: 'I'm sorry it goes on like this [romance stuff], but 40% of my readers like it too much'. xD

Back to the book.

Original volume - SWO volume 1 Aincrad tells a story of main characters trying to escape the game.

Volume 2 Aincrad alternative story is alternative story and prequel to volume 1 which tells small stories about what happened to main characters before volume 1.

Volumes 3 and 4 Fairy Dance continues when main character(s) escaped SWO and came to real world only to continue action in another MMORPG where this time magic is introduced.

I haven't touched volumes 5 and 6 yet and have no urge to. I didn't like many aspects of volumes 2-4 and I personally believe that one is fine reading only the original thing since it is the best of all 7 volumes that are out now.

If you're looking for easy reading and you played MMORPGs SWO can be your choice.

Though I personally believe that fan service is killing creativity in Japan. Oh yeah it is.

-------------------------
English translation of volumes 1-6 can be found here.

I also know where one can find Russian translation of volume 1.

proverbs (God)

God give me strength to deal with what I can handle, give me courage to surrender to what I can't change and give me wisdom to see the difference between them.

God:  The most popular scapegoat for our sins.  

Mark Twain

I know God will not give me anything I can't handle.  I just wish that He didn't trust me so much.

Mother Teresa

A Song of Ice and Fire #2

I have finished reading 4th book of A Song of Ice and Fire.
Impressions?

Too long. It is my main impression.
Many things that happen are just fillers, like 'this character would be useful in the next book, so he has to do something in this one. Many characters feel like fillers too.
Many things happen erradically.
Many choices characters make are at least illogical.

Also characters' images change from book to book, and change too drastically. People change, oh yeah.
But after Cersei is portrayed as ambitious and vile b#tch in first book you do not expect her to switch to stupid and shortsighted b#tch in fourth... And so on.


After you've read second book you begin to notice that story goes like this: 'slow slow slow slow slow slow ka-boom slow slow slow slow slow slow slow slow slow slow slow slow ka-boom slow slow slow'. So you have to read tons of pages of fillers to reach something meaningful. And when you reach that meaningful, everything goes upside down.

Characters that move the story change in each book, but imho in fourth author had the worst combination. Cersei, Brienne, Samwell, Arya, Jaime, Sansa. Choose one that's the most interesting, heh? Or rather choose one that's the least irritating. My choice would be... Jaime. Arya's story could be interesting, if she wasn't just a filler for future use.

So overall A Song of Ice and Fire gets 6/10.
I thought it'd be better. And now having read these 7000 pages I get to think that maybe movie adaptation wasn't bad at all. It was shorter :)

what would *you* say?..

think for a moment...
if you were to go to an open-air concert and suddenly had to give up the idea
and then
on the day concert is held it started to rain heavily, spoiling all the fun of it?
I heard a person say 'it's a bit joyful that I won't be able to go there and in the end no one will enjoy it'.
well if it were me I'd say 'it's ok that I'm not able to go - the fun is spoiled by the weather'.

And what would you think or say?

People are so different in their core.

The other Chelsea - A story from Donetsk

I recommend that you watch this video.
It is... about Ukraine.
A bit short-sighted, yes, but yet interesting.

quotes

'Frogs are smart - they eat what bugs them'
W. Shedd

Again...

as a reminder...

...

«Бабушка гадала, да надвое сказала: то ли дождь, то ли снег; то ли будет, то ли нет»

Pepper Keibu

A generation long Japanese hit song 'Pepper Keibu' by Pink Lady was recorded and released in 1976.
One can say it is a symbol of the generation - the symbol of Japanese 70's.
Here's the recording of 2004 version of 'Pepper Keibu' by Pink Lady (both singers were 46 at the moment of recording):



But present generation likes version of 'Pepper Keibu' by Morning Musume, a pop band of *many* girls with doubtful singing capabilities:



But I do like the old version better.
I do.
They remind me of ABBA actually.

Alice

I liked the pun.

A Song of Ice and Fire

Recently (in a week or so) I've been reading George R. R. Martin's 'A Song of Ice and Fire'.

By now I finished reading 1st book and read about 2/3 of 2nd. 

Still I have no idea why I keep reading it.

I hate to spoil your fun if you're planning to watch 'Game of thrones' TV series, but seriously... in TV adaptation there's almost nothing but boobs. Oh yeah! They occasionally show cocks too... Thus the rating yeah?

The book itself started to get on my nerves after I ruled out their little secret of 1st book (prince's) and read why Kingslayer is STILL alive. Or rather ... *why* king Robert's court is like it is. 

That was almost enough to make me stop reading.

I hate stories for children. 

I bore with it and waited for interesting parts to begin, because less than half heroes had interest for me. I bore with twisted balance between historically correct medieval world and 'magic'. I bore with children, yes, with children, who were either too old or too young for their young age. Meaning I didn't buy children's parts of the story. Except for Arya maybe. And Jon is not a child in a full sense of this word.

...but... 1st book lacks common sense more than anything.

I often had an impression that author sat in his chair and thought: 'we need an unexpected twist here, so he/she will do the least likely thing now'. There're times when you read something you didn't expect and think 'yes, I see it happening', though not in this case. Some events were planned as story turning milestones and have no logical connection whatsoever to other actions of heroes. Or so it seemed to me.

Well, that pretty much spoils it all. They story turns and twists, but I lost most of the interest in how it all ends in the first half of the book.

So I persisted on reading it only because we started watching Game of thrones and it had even worse storyline. I think scenarios for TV series were made by someone who never read the book. They took main event of each one chapter and filmed it, leaving most of the book behind the scenes. Motivations, secondary events that led to main events, etc. Also since series are low budget they cut out most interesting scenery.

And characters... became paper dolls that speak. 

Therefore an answer I posed to myself at the top of this post is... I'm reading it because I'm bored and I have to fill my head with something.

I can't cook all my free time.

Also... it is kinda educating to read something you don't like, but you know that it has commercial success. Makes one think.

Oh yeah... I laughed at a miss in first episodes of Game of thrones. When Jon speaks to Jaime near blacksmith's anvil he starts his speech with one beard and finishes with another one... makes one wonder who's filming it.

요즘 불행합니다.

지난 주에 전 수입이 없었습니다. 고객이 주문을 할 때 마음에 들지 않아 후불을 거부했습니다.
가끔씩 그들은 그냥 나가 버려요. 때때로 그들은 말해 내 일이 나쁜이며 둡니다.
대부분의 경우 그들은 더 작은 돈을 지불하고 쓸 수 있는 동업자를 찾습니다. 몇 몇의 사람들은 단지 돈을 절약하는 것에만 관심을 가집니다. 하지만 보통 적은 돈을 쓴다는 것은 나쁜 품질과 동일한 의미입니다.
우크라이나에서 많은 사람들이 작품을 가치를 이해하지 못합니다.
디자이너들은 일을 하고서도 돈을 받지 못하곤 합니다.
내 사전에 전체가격을 지불하는 고객을 본적이 없어요. 내가 스케치를 만들어가면 그들은 그것을 보고 가격을 결정합니다. 그런데 내가 스케치를 완성하는 동안 그들은 다른 디자이너를 찾기도 합니다.
이러한 경우가 생길 때 마다 속이탑니다. 벌써 이번주에 두 번이나 일어났습니다.


요즘 불행합니다.

... #2

Bad things usually come in three....


Now I'm thinking of leaving what I'm doing now and reverting to my official work.
Maybe it'd be less vexing.

Maybe.

...

В очередной раз убеждаюсь, что сытый голодному не товарищ.
А вы понимайте, как знаете.

This song

Now this song has even more meaning for me.

한국어

저는 한국어를 배우는 시작했다.

Kimi Qiao Renliang - Tonight

Kimi Qiao Renliang (乔任梁) - Tonight


baby girl i say
不是只有我才会觉得孤独无奈
不是我不想对你表白我的情怀
超市里和大街上 人潮人海
总会有一个故事让你感到意外
永远的希望就是浪漫里的等待
虽然不很聪明这也不算太坏
只要知道什么能够让你去爱

让我们 快乐地拥抱
让我们 幸福地去爱
让我们 分享这一切
这疯狂 疯狂的 爱


Tonight
Baby don't cry fall into love
释放你所有的能量去爱
快乐地爱 自由自在
冲破这束缚的孤独
Tonight
Baby don't cry fall into love
感受这如此 真实的爱
简单的爱 美丽灿烂
照亮着我和你的夜

RAP：

baby girl i say
今晚不要再难过 不要彼此伤怀
来陪伴我一起寻找爱的精彩
超市里和大街上 人潮人海
我们只要让全世界都热情起来
现在的希望不是浪漫里的等待
虽然充满意外这也不算太坏
只要知道我们如何幸福去爱

让我们 快乐地拥抱
让我们 幸福地去爱
让我们 分享这一切
这疯狂 疯狂的 爱

Tonight
Baby don't cry fall into love
释放你所有的能量去爱
快乐地爱 自由自在
冲破这束缚的孤独
Tonight
Baby don't cry fall into love
感受这如此真实的爱
简单的爱 美丽灿烂
照亮着我和你的夜

Tonight
Baby don't cry fall into love

感受这如此 真实的爱
简单的爱 美丽灿烂
照亮着我们
挚爱的精彩

...

I'd like to wake up one day and understand that all that happened last week was one big bad dream...

高橋優 「希望の歌」 Yu Takahashi ‘Kibou no Uta’

高橋優 「希望の歌」
Yu Takahashi ‘Kibou no Uta’



Песня мне понравилась настолько, что я ее перевела (письменно).
Перевод можно увидеть здесь.

a note on Chinese

Accidentally had a look into Chinese grammar.
If pronunciation wasn't so hard on me, I'd probably give it a shot (the number of natives is almost endless out there). At least speaking/writing/hearing like with Japanese. But pronunciation kills any desire to even meddle with it in me.
中国话可能是世界上最难学的语言。
(it means 'Chinese is probably the most difficult to learn language in the world' or as far as I understand ^^)
I'd not dare to read it 'right' :D
My kanji-trained eye immediately caught familiar symbols. But I'd be learning traditional Chinese then, cuz Japanese use traditional symbols.
Maybe - just maybe - I'd give it a quick look.
Later, much later.

Pool on top of the 55-story building

почему-то вспомнился GLAY

Захотелось посмотреть лайвы и нашла такое вот ЧУДО.

Интересно, человека, который делал сцен.костюму убили после концерта? :) Или у него был компромат на группу? 

Более бредовых костюмов у этих ребят я не видела. 32-35-и летние мальчики в шортиках :) 

А песня хорошая... 

Но у меня есть видео с почти неизвестного концерта, нарытого в дебрях японского тытюбика. Там солист выкладывается хорошо во втором куплете и концовке, а не как тут.

Даже слова перепутал, но поправился.

Заметка: в этой группе лидер - гитараст в леопардовом манто :) Заметно, как его везде пихают... Поправочка: это в другом лайве у него было леопардовое манто, а тут - блестящая жилетка и красная маечка.

жизнь и чашки

Это - перевод современной китайской байки про жизнь. Сделан не мной :) беру его со страницы куни-куни в lang-8.

"Группа успешных, сделавших замечательную карьеру выпускников, пришла в гости к своему старому профессору.

Конечно же, вскоре разговор зашел о работе - выпускники жаловались на многочисленные трудности и жизненные проблемы. Предложив своим гостям кофе, профессор пошел на кухню и вернулся с кофейником и подносом, уставленным самыми разными чашками - фарфоровыми, стеклянными, пластиковыми, хрустальными и простыми, и дорогими, и изысканными.

Когда выпускники разобрали чашки, профессор сказал: "Если вы заметили, все дорогие чашки разобраны. Никто не выбрал чашки простые и дешевые. Желание иметь для себя только лучшее и есть источник ваших проблем. Поймите, что чашка сама по себе не делает кофе лучше. Иногда она просто дороже, а иногда даже скрывает то, что мы пьем. То, что вы действительно хотели, было кофе, а не чашка. Но вы сознательно выбрали лучшие чашки. А затем разглядывали, кому какая чашка досталась. А теперь подумайте: жизнь - это кофе, а работа, деньги, положение, общество - это чашки. Это всего лишь инструменты для хранения Жизни. То, какую чашку мы имеем, не определяет и не меняет качества нашей Жизни. Иногда, концентрируясь только на чашке, мы забываем насладиться вкусом самого кофе. Наслаждайтесь своим кофе!"

У самых счастливых людей нет всего лучшего, но они извлекают все лучшее из того, что есть. 

Счастье в том, чтобы хотеть то, что у тебя есть, а не в том, чтобы иметь то, что хочешь."

nights

And again I'm answering messages in Japanese at night... it's not good for my Japanese ability and 'performance'.
lol
performance...
and ability...

I hope it has improved or it all has been for nothing.
But somehow I'm not 'clicking' with mos Japanese girls I meet. Maybe it's because I'm not interested in shopping and such. nvm, let's try again. It gets interesting after 100th try...

also been writing new short story recently. Aim to finish it soon.

Royal wedding eh... ?

I'm going to write this post to save some time explaining to various people why I don't really care about 'Royal Wedding' thing.
Few people have spammed me with links to photos, vids, etc, and some asked whether I have watched the translation.
omg
First of all, we're not in the UK. It's not our king or something. Why should I care?
We do not get a holiday, so I couldn't spare time (even if I wanted) to watch it live. I'm sorry, but are you really supposed to watch that at work? Again, it's not *our* king or something.
And about all those speculations 'prince marries a commoner'....a commoner... really? Just a daughter of another millionaire. Commoner indeed. High society married into high society, so?

Please retain from sending me more links, I have seen everything I wanted to see about that wedding already.
Thank you.

2ne1 - Go Away

А вот здесь мне понравился номер.
(кстати песня - на корейском)

A picture I liked