５・７・５

舞い降りる　町を覆われ　白い羽根

町をゆき　顔にあたりて　消えしかな


第一行是昨晩睡前發給ミリアサ朋友群的歌
第二行是今早起來看到一個朋友的回應歌

我寫的歌非常白話，意思也很明顯
朋友的歌較富有詩意，措詞應該也比較正確
但是我不確定有沒有看懂，只好回去請教朋友

朋友回答如下：
（前の歌を受けて）町に積もる雪も
その町を行く自分に当たると消えちゃうね―　って歌

朋友之後還補充説ゆき（行き=雪）這種的叫掛詞(就是玩文字遊戲)
所以我最初猜想的意思沒錯，不過因為沒想到有掛詞，所以也不能算是完全理解

本当に勉強になりました～♪

所以説玩遊戲可以增長見聞（挺

錬金のトラック

In the midst of winter nights, I often hear those trucks outside removing snow/ice, emitting warning beeps and scrapping sounds. I had never seen what they actually look like, until tonight.

The series of warning beeps first caught my attention, as it didn't stop for a while after the scrapping sound abruptly ended. I peeked out the window and saw one truck getting stuck by the side of the road. The tires were unmistakably crying from the slippery ice.

It finally managed to break free and continued working. During the time when it was stuck, occasionally, wisps of white dust would come out from a vent at the front of the car. I thought it was a salt truck, and that the salt grains had provided enough traction for the tires.

As I observed the truck more, I started to doubt my initial theory. There was no container to hold salt, and the way it spew out the white stuff, the flow of the white stuff in the air, and the destined location, suggested it couldn't be salt. Then... snow?

It's a truck that consumes snow and ice chunks from the road and turns them into powdery snow, which it then spreads to the side! It's an alchemy truck! なんて素晴らしい発明！ XD

Now that I think of it, this also solved the mystery of the knee-deep snow I had to tread through on the way to see a certain feline meat sometime ago...

Snow Day!

んなわけない。:x

They did start sending ppl home around after 3pm due to bad weather, although I didn't think it's necessary.

Really, 10-15cm is nothing. Maybe for Vancouver where no one has snow tires, but definitely not Ottawa. In fact, I'm kinda disappointed that I have yet to see decent amount of snow since I moved. Come on, Ottawa! You can do better than this!

Let's see if next Monday will bring us a bit more snow as forecasted...

While waiting for bus today, I had a very brief exchange with Friend-K about what to call the weather phenomenon occurring at that moment. Freezing rain and freezing flurries were proposed, and we just left the topic for the lack of a better description term.

Just as I got off the bus and about to go through the station shelter hub, I looked up and saw the tiny ice crystals reflecting off the lamp against the dark sky, sparkling like diamond chips. Then it hit me.

Diamond dust! :D

ダイアモンドダストといえば、氷河とカミュの技だ！

I'm tempted to categorize the winterly precipitations in terms of the Saint's techniques from now on, namely ダイアモンドダスト/Diamond Dust, ホーロドニースメルチ/Kholodnyi Smerch, オーロラエクスキューション/Aurora Execution, カリツォー/Koltso, and フリージングコフィン/Freezing Coffin. Haven't decided on where to draw the line between each technique, but that should be fun. XD

According to ja.wikipedia, ホーロドニースメルチ means "冷たい竜巻/cold tornado" in Russian, and カリツォー means "輪/ring" in Russian. カリツォー is pretty straightforward and should be кольцо in Russian, but there's some uncertainties regarding the Russian word for ホーロドニースメルチ.

Not being a speaker of the Russian language, the closest word I could find for cold was холодной using the Google Russian<->English dictionary (for some reason, there's no Japanese at all on Google Dictionary).

Then Google told me about this page by a Japanese associate professor, Minoura Nobukatsu. Looks like холодной should actually be written as ホロードヌィイ in katakana. スメルチ, the 2nd part of the word, is probably a misspell of スメールチ. However, due to the vague nature of foreign language pronunciation in Japanese, スメールチ can be either смерть (death) or смерч (tornado). Minoura-san's questions were left half-answered here, probably due to grammatic and spelling discrepancies with the translation.

"Cold death" refers the death to all life as the universe expands and eventually cools down to absolute zero (which is -273.15°C, as I learned while reading Saint Seiya in elementary school). Since ホーロドニースメルチ is not the strongest ice-based technique (it's オーロラエクスキューション/Aurora Execution), "cold tornado" would make more sense as the official translation indicates. As a result, the Russian word would be something like холодной смерти.

I think Kurumada might had just tried to translate the word from Russian to Japanese without a proper dictionary. As a non-speaker of the language, I think it's close enough. :Q

First snow! ( ﾟ ∀ ﾟ )

I knew some of the rain drops looked too suspiciously large when I walked home in the afternoon sheltered only by the hood of my jacket...

Since the temperature isn't low enough now and is bound to rise, all traces of the white stuff (a.k.a. lame snow) will probably be gone by morning. But it might be an indication that the coming winter would be cold as predicted by some.

...which means I'll need to get a long coat, and I'll need to actually go shopping for it.

Me no like shopping for clothes. （つд｀）

It's been a while since I last posted anything here. My busy *cough* daily life being one of the reasons, but the suspending state of my gremz tree also plays a big part.

I don't know why, but no matter how much or how often I write (notice the short burst of posts back in March?), the thing just won't grow! I've seen other people's trees flourishing just fine on their Blogger page so I don't think it's due to incompatibility with Blogger. Is it because I went in and changed too much of the layout code and screwed up somewhere? The possibility of this is actually rather high so I'm not going to probe further for now. Before I figure out how to properly make the tree grow, I'm going back to my previous habit of updating when I remember. Or unless I find some other blog pet to keep...

Oh, in case anyone noticed, I've updated the Vocaloid player on the side with a couple of new songs, including ones by Megumine Luka! :)

Now that's over with, let's get on with this month's summary post!

First off, GO CANUCKS GO!! XD
I doubt we'll advance very far judging from the first round performance, but I still want to cheer the team on. After all, I became a Canucks fan during the '94 play-off.

BTW, the last snow of the 2009 winter fell on April Fool's Day. How humorous is our God... XD

April marks the start of another new batch of anime and drama shows. Of course, I'm so far behind that I'm not even attempting to finish the last batch from January. Still, I've been busy catching up and re-watching various series. I haven't really started on the new ones yet, but there's a couple that I've been really looking forward to since the news of them came out. I'll make another post on this later.

(Why did I start playing Super Robot Wars J yesterday? I'll never get around to watch all the shows at this rate... orz)

I bought a whole bunch of stuff on my monthly ACG shopping trip. Unfortunately, the NDS Gundam game that I wanted was already gone... But I still managed to get quite a few items of choice, including Sound Horizon's Moira!

Here's a quick list of this month's loot:
[CD]
- Sound Horizon: Moira (with 1st press limited embroidered box, no less! No privilege goods, though)
- Kanon: Sanctuary
- ELISA: ebullient future
- Toradora OP1 Single: Pre-Parade (which bro at first suspected as Vocaloid singing!)
- Heroic Age OP Single: gravitation
- CLANNAD Anime OP & ED Single- Megumeru/Dango Daikazoku
- Kalafina: oblivious
- Okiayu Ryuutarou: Sora no Ashiato
- Hajime Chitose: Fuyu no Hainumi Kaze
- Natsugawa Rimi: Kaze no Michi
- Final Fantasy XII: Symphonic Poem "Hope"
[DVD]
- Kenran Butou Sai DVD box set
[Novel]
- Saiunkoku Monogatari: Ryokufuu wa Yaiba no Gotoku (彩雲国物語 緑風は刃のごとく)
- Kiri: Shishatachi wa Kouya ni Nemuru (キーリ 死者たちは荒野に眠る)

The Toradora novels are already at Iwase waiting for me to pick up as well. :D

I'm seriously thinking of starting the translation project I've been planning, especially with all the new books I've been buying...

Hello 2009!

First of all, let's have a moment of silence for the melting and shrinking snow that's been with us for the past month or so... There.

I'll miss those pinkish night sky until they loom over us again in the 2009/2010 winter. As long as the snow doesn't compromise the road condition when I need to go out, that is.

Too bad it was ridiculously cold when the snow accumulation reached its highest so I didn't take a picture. Now that it's starting to melt, I have no interest in recording its slow and painful death.

We broke the record for snow fall in December for Surrey, btw.

---

Because of the snow, we cancelled our different agenda and stayed home. Mum wanted to rent a movie but didn't have anything in mind. I voted for Wall-E, but bro pushed hard for Transformer, so we ended up with Transformer.

Bro and I had some hearty good laughs throughout the movie, though I had to keep explaining to Mum 'cause she was lost from the beginning and was still confused at the end. I especially love the scene when the main guy (sorry, forgot his name already) was demanded whether he was user so and so, and where item number so and so was. I also burst out laughing not five minutes into the film when the narration, with a low grave voice, mentioned the Cube. Nice name for such a supposedly powerful object. XD

Other than the eBay and robotic jokes, I found Transformer to be all right. The CG rendering and action is pretty awesome, though the fighting scenes between the robots can be a bit too fast paced to follow. And to untrained eyes such as Mum's, she had difficulty distinguishing the individual units unless they're in the vehicle mode.

Bro loved the movie and lauded it as the best movie of the year (2007?) I still think Wall-E would be better. I'm too used to robots fighting for peace/domination/destruction to get excited about Transformer, which is one of the reasons why I voted for Wall-E. I don't usually feel the attraction very often when watching commercials, but I did for Wall-E. It might not beat Fireball in the 3D robot-themed category in my mind, but I have high expectation for it.

Maybe I should just go buy the DVD?

---

After my last post in December, I went and bought Puzzle Quest the next day for my Guren. I also managed to get a copy of Chrono Trigger and Final Fantasy III after numerous searches around town. The World Ends With You, unfortunately, is still out of sight.

Bought New Super Mario Bros yesterday 'cause I haven't got any platformer game yet. Bro didn't seem too interested in it and wanted a Naruto fighting game instead. Not a chance, man. Buy it yourself.

Anyhow, I started Puzzle Quest right away and also got bro into it. I chose a knight and named him Fenir to go with the background setting, while bro went with a wizard and named him Naruto. He beat the game two days ago and complained about the difficulty of the last boss. At the end, he had to adjust the game level to easy because he just couldn't win under the normal level. I beat the last boss yesterday in my first try right in his room, causing an appalled cry from him. Then I used his character and fought the last boss using the Choose An Opponent feature, and I beat him in one try as well under the normal level setting. This earned an indignant grunt and a weak excuse from bro. 甘いな、おとうとよ。XD

Since I plan to finish the NES version of DQ IV first, I had Chrono Trigger and FF III to choose from for my next game. I finally went with Chrono Trigger. Listening to its soundtrack has that effect on people.

So I'm now reliving a precious part of my gaming history. Knowing the story development didn't take away the fun of playing, and it's priceless to be able to see those memorable character and monster sprites moving about on the screen. The OP movie (from the PS version?) is very nice, too. I'm having a blast with Chrono Trigger! :D

Burrrrr. It was 3°C when I left home this morning so I didn't think of wearing a scarf or a thicker jacket. I regretted it the second I walked out the door when I got off work. The forecasted flurries didn't happen (it's been pushed to tomorrow morning), but the strong and bone chilling December wind was blowing snow dusts all over the place.

It was in this fine weather that I braved myself and ventured on my quest for my very first DS game. Yes, I finally plunged in and got myself a DS.

The seal hasn't been broken yet, but it's already got a name: Guren (紅蓮). You can probably guess its colouring from the name. Out of the three colours that we carry (silver, cobalt & black, crimson & black), this one immediately caught my eyes as it reminded me of the Guren from Code Geass (Guren/Kallen & Black Knights/Zero, get it?) Yeah, bro just laughed dryly after hearing my reasoning behind the name. He had no idea what I was talking about, except that it involved Code Geass, a title I recited often to him.

I dropped by London Drugs first to see what anime titles they have since I haven't been there in a long time. They actually have a pretty good selection, including the first set of Gurren Lagann and Seirei no Moribito, both of which I haven't watched but have heard praises for. I'll probably start watching those two soon so I can get the DVDs if I like the series before they get bought by someone else.

Best Buy was, as expected, swamped. No one in the anime section, though. I was tempted to buy the second part of Aquarion, but the price tag of $45 for two discs set me off. I ain't paying 90 bucks for a 26-episode series unless I really like it. Sousei no Aquarion is a good show in many aspects, just not enough to justify the cost for me, especially when there's no part one and thus I'll have to hunt around for it. If they have both parts in stock, it might be a different story. That's what happened with Evangelion. I enjoy the series but it's not even in my top 20, but the complete series was there in a box set with a good and fancy box at a reasonable price, so I bought it right then and there.

Anyhow, I put Aquarion back to the shelf and strode into the video game section. It was really crowded. I saw more store associates in this area than we have for the department for the whole day today...

Before this little excursion, I had a couple titles in mind for my Guren so it didn't take me too long. My first choice, Chrono Trigger, was not available this side of the country yet. My third choice, Final Fantasy III, was no longer available in any Best Buy across the country (I thought I saw a copy just a week or so ago...) My fourth choice, The World Ends With You, was also nowhere to be seen. So I ended up with only my second choice, Dragon Quest IV. I want to finish the NES version first though, so it might be a while before I actually get around to play it. Puzzle Quest seems interesting. I might get it to fill the gap.

It's -4°C now. The numbers I see in the forecast for next week are all in the minus. I think it's time to get the muffler out. I should probably change my pyjama to the winter set while I'm at it, eh?

Let's see... Spring officially started last week so it should be all nice and warm now, right? I mean, this is just Vancouver, not Toronto or Winnipeg.

Think again. This is, after all, Vancouver we're talking about here.

It only lasted about two hours, but it snowed today. Yup, a flurry with huge sticky snowflakes. It wasn't anything major, but I don't recall it snowing this close to April, at least not in the last 15 years.

Just want to leave a record here. :)

今天天氣: 晴時多雲偶陣雪

這個冬天目前為止就數這次的雪最大, 20幾公分而已, 遠不及去年某次。不過已經足夠讓我被強制上班請假了。
(中午過後的路況似乎沒啥問題, 可是我不想為了三個小時而開/塞一個小時半來回 -__-)

早上還沒被禁止出門前, 很認命地在飛舞的雪花中剷雪。看著一片白茫茫的積雪, 邊剷邊希望我也能有個秋子阿姨幫忙剷啊... 這裡應該沒有他們那裡冷, 路邊也沒有供應防滑的砂子。不過我有一次因為車子非加油不可, 晚上下班的時候用微波爐熱了一杯水, 澆在加油孔的蓋子上融冰, 不然打不開沒辦法加油。

但是話說回來, 名雪學校的制服真的設計很怪, 那麼冷還是穿短裙, 連那個萬年感冒的傢伙都穿那麼薄。女性角色設定跟地方天氣實在一點都不協調啊...

Snow! 1st snow this winter! (Well, there was this one night when it sorta snowed in the area, but it was gone before the night was over and didn't really count) The weather forecast was actually spot on for once... Right now, Weather Eye shows -3°C, the lowest this winter so far. However, temperature might go up to 13°C next week...

Someone posted some CG cutscenes from FF VII Crisis Core and I eagerly grabbed them before realising what format those were in: PMF. Since this was the first time I've encountered this type of file, I didn't anticipate this being a mission impossible. If you've some experience with PMF playback on Windows, you can probably guess. Yup, no audio. After much anguish and frustration, I let out a scowl and unwillingly admitted defeat.

Luckily, I found a web site that streams those cutscenes in one video. As long as I timed it right, I could watch the PMF videos with sounds in the background. The few CG movies weren't enough to sate my appetite, though. Having seen the trailers on the Square Enix web site, the lack of the flower girl's appearance in those cutscenes was disappointing. I checked Youtube and managed to find two clips of Zack x Aerith. It's really cute but with a tint of sadness when you know their final outcome...

I had found it odd that the two seemed to be on familiar terms when I watched FF VII: Advent Children, and my doubt was somewhat answered when I saw the trailers for Crisis Core. I really should find time to play FF VII, eh? As far as I know, Zack's story is only told in CC, so unless Square Enix does a port, which is highly unlikely but would be totally awesome, I won't be able to 'watch' it like I did with FF X & X-2. :(

Speaking of the trailers from the Square Enix web site, part of the fun was to try and distinguish the seiyuu. With AC, I recognised Cloud, Kadaj, and Aerith. I wasn't familiar with the voice of Morikawa Toshiyuki at that time and therefore wasn't able to tell him apart with just that one line. With CC, not counting the characters in AC, I was pleasantly surprised to recognise Angeal and the Shinra guy with blond hair. Genesis was a tough one. I struggled and went through all the notable voices in my head but still couldn't come up with a matching name. A quick trip to the Japanese Wikipedia told me why. Genesis is voiced by Gackt, who is a singer but not a seiyuu. This is the first time I've heard him beside the theme songs for the Zeta Gundam movies. His voice is... unique.

Final Fantasy VII's story is probably one of the most complex out of the FF franchise. (Though, who am I to say this, when all I've played are III to VI, and III isn't even beaten yet) I think I'll make playing FF VII one of my New Year's resolutions for next year. Wonder if there'll be an EC coming out for the FF VII series?