Goodbye to you my beloved MacTiger

New iMac with Snow Leopard OS

We’ve been together for three and a half years, 150 something posts, 1 major catastrophic hard drive wipe out, 7 or 8 terabytes of data, a hundred or so CASB memos, and not a single blue screen of death.  I don’t really wanna give you away but I am trying to conserve energy and I can’t afford to have both of you running at the same time.  Don’t worry, your new owner wouldn’t overwork you so much.

Now onto my new Snow Leopard…your mouse alone is nothing but perfection. <3

I have a pretty good memory, but…

I have a pretty good memory but it’s the span of a goldfish’s.  The worst case  was forgetting a co-worker’s name of whom I’ve worked with for the last two years.  I was about to call her and I can’t for the life of me remember her name.  I had a blank expression for a whole minute while trying to do an internal search for the missing name.  And all this while she was staring at me.  God, why did you make me so weird?

There are also those instances of a senior drilling me with client issues of which I have no recollection of.  They get exasperated and annoyed with me and I can’t blame them.  My memory span is really crappy.  I hate being put on the spot and I can’t remember.  And instead of helping you, the senior makes it worse by dumping you these questions one after another, “This management fee from opco to holdco, do you remember? where did you get this number, do you remember…no, you don’t remember? you don’t remember???”  NO, I don’t fracking remember.  If you back off for a moment and let me breathe, I will remember.

First Impression: Yamato Nadeshiko Shichi Henge

In Japanese, Yamato Nadeshiko is a metonym for the perfect woman.  Back in my home town, we use the term Maria Clara, which could also mean a conservative old-fashioned woman.  This drama is based on a manga, of the same title (English title: The Wallflower), which you can read online.  The manga was so successful that it was turned into an anime and now into a drama.  The Sunako in the manga reminds me of Sawako in Kimi no Todoke (a manga and anime I am currently following).  However, I strongly believe that Kimi no Todoke is better material to use for anime and drama conversion than Yamato.

You need a strong heart during the cot season

It is my second year of the T1/T3/T4/T5 season as a preparer and today, reviewers just kept hammering me with queries.  Some would come in person and tell me nicely and the others would send an impersonal email listing them all out.  Some of these emails are read like a series of gunshots to my heart.  One hole there, another, and another until there’s nothing left of me.

Last year, I came during a bad time and my senior for some reason freaked out on me.  She was stressed and I was her punching bag.  She did apologize though and I didn’t mind; I understood.  I didn’t even cry while she degraded me into a pulp and I have always been a cry baby.  It amazes me how numb my heart has become.  My cadet training didn’t help with the crying.  It taught me how not to quit.  Working in public practice, on the other hand, taught me how to keep a strong facade when all I wanna do is run and cry.

That’s probably what I hate and fear the most during the busy season.  It’s not the overtime hours or the work load.  It’s the number of people that would crack from the stress and when they do, it sucks to be the one sitting across from them.

First Impression: Massugu na Otoko

Massugu na Otoko is Matsushima Kenichiro played by Sato Ryuta.  He is what you would call an all around nice guy.  The kind who would fulfill a stranger’s dying wishes.  The kind who would give 50 bucks to a girl he’d met for no more than an hour.  The kind who would give this girl another 50 bucks just cause she asked him to.  Yup, an all round law-abiding, ethics-abiding citizen, this is Matsushima Kenichiro.

In this drama, he meets “un-massugu” na Onna, Kurita Nurumi (Fukada Kyoko). The unscrupulous woman who does not blink an eye after getting caught impersonating someone just to get a free meal.  The one who would blatantly ask a stranger for food money. The one who would steal anything but money.  Can you believe it?  Fukada in a role with some kind of depth?  Although, I don’t get annoyed with Fukada even with her most absurd roles, I am delighted to see her in a real role for once.

When you think of an overly-righteous guy, very few can play the role without inducing a series of gagging events.  Sato is one of those handfuls. That’s probably why Rookies, even with an overkilled theme, ended up working out.  Sato has this way of expressing his earnestness without being too fake. “I am going to live a straight life,” he declares and you believe him.  Bad guys are overrated.  Fan girls live by them but this season, it will be about the good guys.

There are going to be a few yin-yang couples this season and this is pair one.  A promising pair, if I may say.  Winter doesn’t seem to be too bleak anymore.

Is Winter gonna be a crappy season for Jdramas?

I’ve checked the Jdrama Fansub Map for the 15th time this week, hoping something would entice me but all that stands out are a bunch of sequels (Hanchou 2, Bloody Monday 2, and Code Blue 2…ah why not JIN 2? I need my JIN 2).  How could I watch the part 2’s when I have struggled with their first offerings? And why pick Winter of all time to be sucky when this is the only break I get from my studies???  Geezz…what a bummer.

Bloody Monday 1 is not so bad, but the sequel is going to be predictable.  Same terrorists, same format, virus, nuclear weapons, same friendly – neigbourhood hacker, ladi da dida…

Yamato Nadeshiko Shichi Henge almost had me yelp in glee until I saw who’s playing Kyouhei.  Kamenashi Kazuya is not even close to someone who would blind you with his shimmering radiant beauty. Ugh.  I hate how Kame always makes me superficial and shallow.   I saw the first 20 minutes unsubbed and I almost groaned with the F4 similarity during the character introductions.  Have shoujo writers been trying to re-create Hana Yori Dango all these years and I have been stupidly suckered in again and again?  Am I outgrowing my fangirl flesh? …probably not, but I am surely getting tired of these kind of dramas.  However, I will not write this off completely.  The original manga, which I have read a couple years back, did not have a specific direction in terms of plot.  There was little character and relationship development.  The anime was a disappointment and something that is not worth elaborating on. The drama scriptwriter would surely correct what the mangaka had lacked on. That we can definitely expect.

The other offerings from Fuji and TBS are career related.  Tokujo Kabachi takes place in a legal document firm which stars my favorite Arashi member Sakurai Sho and one of my least favorite actresses, Horikita Maki.  Naka nai to Kimeta Hi chooses a corporate/office environment on which the heroine, Eikura Nana, endures bullying from her superiors.  I hope this drama takes on a darker tone like LIFE.  If it does, then there is hope for the winter season. Finally, Massugu na Otoko, features the very passionate Sato Ryuta and the not so bright Fukada Kyoko which says everything about my expectations.  Fukada in a comedy always means slapstick but not entirely “un-funny”.

Kanno Miho does a drama for NTV (Magerarenai Onna) but NTV, NKH and Asahi seldom produce a drama of my liking so my expectations for this is pretty low.

Is this really going to be a dreary winter for Jdramas?  Am I gonna have to stick with Kdramas and past season unwatched  Jdramas instead? Shucks. what a bummer.   Here is to hoping I get my don’t-judge-the-darn-cover-i-told-you-s0 moment.

You’re gonna be the death of me

This is truly one of the most mentally exhausting stages in my life.  The sad thing is, the pleasure you get from learning that you pass has an inverse relationship with the stress you are put through while waiting.   The joy I felt back in module 1  is a dynamite of emotions while today I felt like a balloon popped by a needle.  There goes all your worries  away and you are left, devoid of emotions.  Not entirely, of course.  I don’t say I’d rather be crying my eyes out right now, but it’s like, ah…two more modules to go and then you face the Monster of all exams.  I don’t mind time being frozen in April.  I don’t mind prepping endless T1s if I could just delay it for a year or two.  Overdramatic, I know.  I have no cure for this, sorry.

jdrama: Tokyo DOGS

The abominable facial hair

This post is powered by episode 10 of Will it snow for Christmas? I don’t even know why I’m writing something completely unrelated from WISFC, but no matter, I’ll do this while I’m hyped up.

Like Love Shuffle , Tokyo DOGS is another two-episoder for me.  It has taken me a month and just before I was to permanently cross it out of my list, I picked up where I’ve left off and finished the whole thing within 4 days. And surprisingly, I’ve enjoyed it in the middle and even though it’s slowed down in the end, I didn’t hate it.

Plot-wise, I wasn’t drawn too much into it.  After watching a couple of episodes, I still couldn’t understand what was going on except for glaring fact that Mizushima Hiro’s goatee and mustache are like needles poking into my eyes.   Everything is so annoying, even Yushitaka Yuriko’s drunken voice that I love so much, I couldn’t stand anymore.  These are actors that I have loved from other dramas, and now, the pain to see them in such roles is unbearable.  That is why I stalled on episode 2 and mulled over for a month whether to continue or not. Luckily, I did.

Melo Breeze in Smile, You

There are indeed some benefits on listening to foreign songs.  First, the lyrics, no matter how corny if sung in a language other than English, will lose the cheese factor.  That is why I have all my Backstreet Boys songs in Spanish.  The only problem is I could only sing the chorus.  Of course, the language barriere would not stop me if I’ve fallen hard for the song.  This has only happened with a few selections; most, if not all, Japanese OSTs.  This includes the Rookies’ theme song Kiseki by Greeeeen and  Remioromen’s Konayuki in One Litre of Tears.

My favorite theme song(s) of the month are Melo Breeze’s Bye,bye and Vis a Vis, both featured in the family Korean drama Smile, You.  It would have sounded a lot better if they’ve taken out the bye,bye parts (coz that is seriously engrish cringe worthy and there’s nothing worse than corny engrish lyrics) and stuck with “Anyong, anyong, nae sarang” See how that has a better impact? These songs fall under my category of songs that have a “stand-alone-value” (sorry, too much revenue recognition studying).  Songs under this category can stand on their own even without being featured in the drama.  You’re Beautiful’s OST is a good example.  The more I got drawn in by the drama, the more I wanted to listen to the OST.  I would have never gotten past the second stanza of these songs without seeing You’re Beautiful.

On Smile, You, as expected from a family drama, the quality of writing is lower than mediocre. Even the love triangle is the lamest I have seen.  But there are several HILARIOUS SCENES and that’s what had kept me going.  I hate to be shallow, but I have fast forwarded most scenes that had nothing to do with Jung-in and Hyun-soo.  The only thing I am prickly about is how unlikable the parents are.  Will they ever be redeemed, I wonder?  This is gonna be my first 40+ Kdrama that is not a saeguk.  I have been following it and have taken a break at the 20th episode where Jung-in and Hyun’s relationship has reached the caramelizing-stage.  I am more enamored by Will it Snow at Christmas? written by my favorite melodrama writer, Lee Kyung Hee.  Just waiting for another gut-wrenching punch to power up my post for this drama.  I hope episode 7 does it.  I can’t wait.

Jitters.

So much for the enthusiasm…forced enthusiasm… disillusioned enthusiasm…

No matter, is this even passable.

“Isn’t it nice to think that tomorrow is a new day with no mistakes in it yet?,”  says Anne Shirley

Not my tomorrow, Anne.  ‘Nice’ is not something you put in a sentence with my tomorrow.

Hoping that over excessive worrying could induce some subconscious self-review.

Good night to you, my unsullied, pre-module4-exam- self.