Holidays are almost here (2 weeks to go) but I can really feel it coming. The silence for one thing is a sign eh. Why of course it’s Saturday hehehe. But just to share my surprise, a while ago on my way to Frio Mixx to eat my lunch, I took the ER exit and lo and behold, no patient bed was occupied and the ER people are really benign! Maybe it’s not much of a phenomenon but for 3 years working in this hospital, never have I seen the ER unoccupied of px. But I think that’s a good thing, means the number of sick people has declined for this particular day. But then my pessimistic side is pointing that perhaps financial concerns caused this particular event. Or whatever… I just want to have my vacation!

Anyways, a couple of days ago, I was trying to confirm this Hobbiworx event which was supposed to be on the last day of March, but to my surprise it was moved on the 12th of May. Geez, how can an otaku event be coincide with the heat of elections???? Further (i-net) research made me realize (again) how outdated I am with otaku related events. Geez! There are lots in line right now, just to mention, Gigabyte Lan Party on March 30, Ozine Fest 2007 on April 1, J-crunch Ripiito on April 12, Hobbiworx Tagcom convention on May 12, Mangaholix Animangaming convention on May 19, and of course don’t forget the Toycon which is being held every June ( I haven’t got the final schedule). Whew, I only hope I could attend all of those… though part of me would only get sad for not being able to participate in cosplay. Until now I haven’t got any inspiration. Most anime I’ve seen recently are set on real time and characters and costumes don’t vary much with ordinary clothes (except for Yuuko of XXX Holic). Anyway, the most recent I’m watching right now is School Rumble, a highschool love story comedy. One of those boy-loves-girl, girl-loves-another-guy-and-this-guy-seemed-not-to-care plot. What do you call that again? Love Polygon! Hahaha. And of course varieties of friends to support the girl are always present and so far I couldn’t get myself amused. The only thing that keeps me with this anime are the translation notes which was being flashed before the start of the show and from time to time on the duration of the series. Thank goodness I have the fansub version. Now I’m not a critic here, all I’m saying is that I haven’t found the engaging side of School Rumble (if there is). There must be since my friend recommended it to me…

There’ll gonna be a lot of changes from now on. Just to mention, Neil, who’s my sole otaku-fellow in the office has resigned since the 5th of the month. I felt both happy and sad for his departure. Happy because he’s finally set off to pursue his dreams (unlike me who’s been in slump for the last 2 years!) and the fact that that’s one slacker down hehehe. Sad, because I’d lost a fellow otaku, of course I’ve considered him as a friend. We talked about a lot of things usually about Japanese and anime stuffs. He’s always enthusiastic to come with me in various anime events. Though I sometimes get annoyed at him but those were pretty petty. Oh well, life’s like that as Kenshin puts it, life is a many things, a journey but not a separation, a beginning not an end. It’s disheartening but that’s the way things are. On the other side, Gel came back and will be staying in the office at least until September. Now the office had gone “wild” again with her around. That is to say, our jolly moments are back.

I’ve also started saving money. I opened a personal savings account using the saved money I had from a piggy bank hehehe. I find this amazing because in more than 3 years of work, I haven’t got a single saving! Not even a cent! I could only consider my toys and anime collection as investment, but there was never a single thought of selling them in the future. Also I’m determined to get my own place! Anyways, I just thought that since I have no direction in life, I might as well start saving… perhaps everything should start there…

I’ve just finished reading Shogun by James Clavell. It’s a story of an English ship pilot, John Blackthorne who got stranded, together with his ship and crew, in feudal Japan. At first he was treated as a captive but eventually when his value (for his knowledge) were realized by Japanese, he eventually turned into a samurai and served the greatest daimyo as a hatamoto. I spent almost a month reading this 1152 pages book (with a font size of 8!)… and my further readings of non-fictional books about Japan revealed to me that this book is actually loosely based on the rise of Tokugawa Shogunate. Interesting huh… Right now I’m currently reading Gai-jin which is a sequel of Shogun, and this time tells the life of foreigners in Japan during the early 1860s… which seemed to me, if I would refer to the timeline of Rurouni Kenshin, was the start of the civil war –Tokugawa shogunate vs. the Royalist, rather the fall of Tokugawa and the start of Meiji Restoration? I’m not really sure since my knowledge of Japanese history is very limited… I’m still learning (and enjoying) hehe… I tried reading a brief biography of Tokugawa Ieyasu, but I have to admit that I find it hard to keep up because of so many unfamiliar figures mentioned… that means I have to start from 1. Maybe I should start with the aboriginal Japanese –Ainus hehehe… oh well. I just want to share that Shogun captivated me! And because of that, I haven’t watch any anime yet since Honey and Clover season 2 (and that was a month ago). And speaking of ship, I might as well continue watching One Piece, I have 200+ episodes to go hehehe…

Enough about books and anime, I just want to share about this old friend of mine seeking counsel… after not hearing from him for quite sometime, I was surprised to hear him ask “What do you do when you’ve done every possible thing you could to overcome heartache? When you’ve tried everything to get over the past yet the sweet memories keep coming back? And the more you try to forget, the more you remember.” They say it’s just in the mind… willpower… whatever you may call it, when it haunts you, it will get you no matter how you try to runaway. Doshio old friend? I’d say, then just let it be… What makes you happy yet you can’t get it… then just keep on dreaming till you feel like waking up one day. But of course, I could only tell this to him because I know he can take it. I find it silly but knowing what kind of person he is, it might work out fine. And of course, these are just one of the things that I learn from anime and manga hahahaha!!!! I told myself, realizing, that a day may come that I might find it hard to distinguish reality from not. Oh well I’m sorry if I couldn’t be of much help because honestly I’m just as troubled as anyone else in this cruel world. May God bless these lonely souls…