Rising from the Ashes

Hero - Super Cell

Saturday, December 31, 2011

My Tribute to the Year that has Passed





Now where do i begin? Of course, to where it all started.
To you, who had read my blog for this whole year, i am very thankful to you.
I'm sure that you had witnessed the things that had happened to me, during this year and it might have crossed your mind that "This guy is nuts!"

Thank you, that is by far the best compliment that I can get from you.
Now allow me to start this post as i think back to the months that has passed this year.


January
has been the start of seemingly unexpected changes and the start of my three year plan to success. It started right, it gave me the time to think of what i want to do for the future and the path that i should take, in order to make it. As i struggled to learn the alphabet of another language, I find out for myself that it was a lot harder than i thought.

February has shown me that those little and simple things in life can make you happy. It taught me that it is OK to dream BIG as long as you have the heart and will to see it through. Valentines day was not very romantic for me T~T BUT! I think that it will be OK....in 2 or more years from now xD! Ok...don't ask, coz i won't tell you.

March March is.... xD! March is the month where i started to have some sleep problems. Yeah~ March...however, i thought that it was not something that i should be concerned about (At that time). Little did i know that this mild sleep order will make things uh.....more "complicated for me".

April I finally got over that "mild sleep order phase" of mine and were able to find something decent to watch. I also thought about a couple of things during this time and re-adjusted my schedule. One major thing that happened during this time was the fire that broke out in our neighborhood and yeah~ i thought that things will get very messy. I'm quite thankful that the fire did not spread too much (well if you call burning down at least 10 houses was not a big deal). I pray that we won't have anything of the sort this year.

May Well May is another troublesome month because this is when i started to feel aches on my fingers. You might be thinking that i am a person that has too many aches in this little body of mine (and i would not deny it). I'm pretty sure that it must have been due to my line of work (which is writing). Typing the keyboard 4-6 hours a day nonstop in order to beat a deadline everyday, is not an easy task mind you. This is where the "What IF's" question popped out and it was something that i was not prepared for.

June Rainy days make me happy for some reason. Like i said, it makes me feel comfortable because it becomes cold and i feel like all my problems are being washed away by the rain. The aches on my fingers resides every now and then, after i apply the so called "heat therapy" to them. This is also the time, when my sister finally entered society and started working. She got a taste of what the "real world" is like and it made her feel that there were a lot of things that she needs to learn. Also, one of my friend underwent operation during this month and I'm glad that the operation was successful. She still can't use her legs at the moment, but she told me just recently that she is getting stronger. I do hope that she will be able to walk again by next year.

July This is where i started having problems with my japanese self study lessons. Understanding and memorizing the hiragana and katakana is one thing. Making a sentence another and i don't even want to bother with KANJI during this time. The aches are getting worse during this time and that is when i started to panic a little. It made me edgy which stressed me out to the point that things started to waver and my resolution was being put to the test.

August is a special month because...it is the month when i was born (Obviously). Being born under the Year of the Rat and being a Leo at the same time is one of the things that i am very thankful for in life. Do i believe horoscopes? Sometimes. Do I think they are worth reading? Sometimes. Do I think that Horoscopes influences our lives? No. There is a big difference between living your life the way you want to and living your life based on something like a star sign. True, I think that knowing these things can have an impact on you, but you should never let them take control over you.

September Someone pressed the wrong button and turned off my Sleep MODE feature. For that, i will kill, gut the living hell and annihilate that freaking bastard whoever he is (haha don't mind this very very very frustrated rant of mine about this month). Well, humans learn to adapt and we are very good in adapting. If we find a problem, we can either ignore it or solve it. In my case, i tried to solve it. In the end, i chose to ignore it. And you know what? Ignoring it worked (Take note: My Issues are different from yours. In your case, don't ignore the problem ok? :D ). Well, this is where my battle with my problem began. It was a wake, sleep, wake, wake, sleep kind of battle and i think i was able to hold my ground pretty well.

October After trying to reset my sleep wake pattern for a week, i found some positive results. I tend to get 2 days without sleep and a day with at least 4 hours of sleep. Yeah~ my sleep disorder messed up my schedule pretty bad. Sending me to the hospital twice, not being able to work, frustration kicked in and POOF! you get one hell of a hard time in everything that you do. Still, i am not the type of person who does not stand up after my fall and i try to be as optimistic as i can be. You may already know that i am a person who is blessed by the power of "The Blessing in Disguise". I believe that if something like this is making everything hard for me now, then things will get easier in the future. Call it Karma and the likes, it always worked out for me. When something bad happens to me, something better will fall in place. It has never missed once, and i pray (with all my heart) that it will show something great very soon.

November As i slowly get over my sleep wake problem dillema. I am now well versed in hiragana and katana. I can read them without too much effort and i even tried to read untranslated or RAW manga's from an online site. Well, of course if i stumble upon a KANJI then i would be like...Damn..there's no Kana i can't effing read this word!! Well, you know what i mean if you are studying Japanese. I also experienced difficulty in breathing during this month because of the lack of sleep. It's really vexing to be gasping for air because you failed to catch a good night's sleep. Oh well, i got over it after a few days and seriously, I am trying different methods on how i will trick myself in falling asleep every single day. It can be quite challenging at times, but the reward is worth it. Even 2-3 hours of sleep is considered a blessing in my case.

December The only thing worth mentioning about this month is that i pigged out on every occasion that i can get. Seriously, eating on "EAT ALL YOU CAN's" can be a stress reliever. Talking with friends while waiting for the food to be cooked (HOT POT STYLE) can really get you into the right mood. Tonight, as i am typing this post of mine. Fireworks are flying in the sky. Even if it's still not midnight, things can get pretty noisy here and I'm sure that it is going to be a long night. Make that a very long night of eating, partying, drinking until the sun rises.




January 1 of 2012! Year of the Black Water Dragon! I welcome you and pray that this year...this year will hold great promise for me and everything that I am working so hard to attain.

I hope that you guys had a great year and never forget!

Keep the Flames Burning!!

Saturday, December 24, 2011

My Christmas Experience


Christmas is always something that you can look forward to, all year round. People being extra nice to each other, people doing things that you can "only see" during this time of the year.

Currently as i am writing this post, i am eating desserts that had been given to me by my neighbors. Brownies, Pudding/Leche Flan are the things that i usually eat during this time of the year. Anything sweet and anything cold (desserts) will lift my spirit, no matter how tired, how lonely or sad i can be.

Now time to make my Christmas wish....

*closes eyes and contemplate*

I wish that i will be able to sleep better by next year!
And...i wish that i will have the opportunity to visit Japan by next year as well and finally learn how to speak the language.

Well, of course that is something that i really wish to happen (and still wanting to happen).

Merry Christmas Everyone!! I wish that all of you will find happiness and success in whatever thing you do!

Till next time...

Keep the Flames Burning!!

Wednesday, December 14, 2011

Worries of my Heart


Last Sunday, me and my friends went to an "Eat All you Can" resto to talk about a few things. Frankly, i've never had the chance to do this kind of thing before and it was a very refreshing feeling.

Chatting with friends while waiting for the "meat" to be cooked (Sambokujin is a Japanese/Korean restraunt) gives you a sense of satisfaction in its own way. Actually, it was really funny whenever we eat something straight from the pot. I was like "Hey! that meat was mine!" *in my mind* and while i was thinking about those things, my friend was busy chomping it down.

I wish that we would have more opportunities to do the same thing all over again by next year. I decided to get my passport by January (since I feel lazy this month). There are a few other things that concerns me as of now and i think that they are starting to stress me out as well. These so called "issues" picked a wrong month to surface and I'm pretty annoyed by that fact. December is a time to be merry, to be happy and to be relaxing to your heart's content. Unfortunately for me, i did nothing but worry about things every single day.

Because of these sudden obstacles on my way, i have to re-think about my schedule and settle out my priorities. *Sigh* Things are never easy and i think that it will continue to be that way for a time.

Frankly, i just want to move forward and ignore these things but i can't. There are things in life that you can't just close your eyes and hope that things will be better when you open them.

In the future....when i look back at these things i might grieve, i might weep but hopefully i will not regret my decisions. I sincerely hope that next year would be a more promising and wonderful year for me.

Till next time guys...

Keep the Flames Burning!

Tuesday, November 29, 2011

A little bit of Happy Feet


3 days ago, me and some of my friends went to watch Happy Feet 2. I haven't watched Happy Feet 1 and i got the impression that all I am going to see are a lot of singing and dancing.

The movie was quite nice and there were times when i had to stifle a laugh every now and then. It was beyond my expectations and I felt really good after watching the movie. It might had been because of my mood that i was able to get 5 hours of sleep, when i got back home. Then 2 days after that I only got 1-2 hours of sleep again.

Well, I am not feeling anything wrong with my body (which proves that it has adapted) and my breathing seems to be fine too. Well, that is all about my rant for today's post and it's now time to give a review about the Ongoing anime's on my list.

First up is HxH (Hunter x Hunter)...

As you may already know, this manga/anime has been dormant for quite a few years because the author has always been...uhh...always been on HIATUS. Yes, even though many years has passed the popularity of Hunter x Hunter didn't fade. In fact, i think the oldies (old generation) who watched the anime years ago, are quite excited on the changes that has been made.




Yes, to those that didn't know about this...the current ongoing Anime Hunter x Hunter is a remake. The drawings has improved a lot and the bloody scenes are less bloody (actually, no blood at all).

So we start with the story about a little boy named "GON" who wants to follow his father's footsteps and become a hunter. He met friends along the way namely Leorio, Kurapica and Killua. These group of friends became very close and frankly, i am very intrigued on how the "Chimera arch" will be portrayed.

To those that didn't know about this particular arch, it is the next arch after Greed Island. This is were Gon and Killua went all out against a new species that threatens the Human Race. It is an all out war against Ants vs Hunters in a battle of supremacy. Well that is all that i can tell you guys and i think it is something to watch out for, if the current anime series will continue to air until next year.

Have a Great week everyone and till next time!!

Keep the Flames Burning!

Thursday, November 24, 2011

One of those Blessed Nights


This past week, aside from my sleep wake cycle getting broken every now and then, everything was fine. It's really hard to get things done, when you are always feeling tired and yet you can't seem to catch that very much needed sleep.

Now i am trying to read untranslated Manga's and it was like going back to step 1.
Yeah, i was like A--PP--L-E, B-AN-ANA. It was such a funny feeling, this baby talk of mine was something that i never expected to happen. Sure, i don't have any problems when reading short sentences but things start to change, when you finally do something you want to do.

Well anyways, i just can't help but go back to the basics once again and i think that it is something worth doing. Now aside from learning a few words here and there, i think reading something with pictures will help me connect the dots (or so to speak).

Very much like a picture book, manga's allow the reader to grasp the story just by looking at the pictures. I always (ALWAYS) only read translated manga's and reading RAW ones is quite a challenge. Still, with my handy dandy japanese dictionary beside me and my will to learn the language, I'm sure I'll manage one way or the other.

Well, no Manga/Anime reviews for this week but I'll post a comment about some Ongoing anime's as of late.

Till Then...

Keep the Flames Burning!!

Monday, November 14, 2011

Going back to Zero in the middle of the Night



There were times when i have difficulty in breathing, but this happens for only a brief period of time. It was my first time to experience shortness of breath for 2 consecutive days (every sec of every minute). My breathing has been quite heavy during those two days and it gave me enough reason once again to see the doctor.

After running some tests, he asked me to take the ECG test(electrocardiogram). He said that my lungs and heart seems normal and he added that i might have over-exerted myself in doing something. Well, it did happen 2 hours after i did the laundry last week and i was gasping for air before i knew it.

He said that all i need to get is some rest (which is, as you know almost an impossibility in my condition). I just sucked it up and went home feeling a little better knowing that it wasn't due to my heart nor lungs. Yeah, i know that it is just connected to my sleep/wake problem.

Well anyways, since the problem has been diagnosed and i am back to ZERO, when it comes to having a good nights rest.

Well, my rant ends here and i will now talk about the Ongoing anime series which is Fate Zero.

As you may already be aware of, Fate Zero is the PREQUEL of Fate Stay Night. A battle between Masters and their Servants for the Holy Grail (which can grant you any wish you desire).

Saber also known as Arturia (King Arthur) is the legendary King of Knights and is considered as the strongest servant in the story. Of course we have 3 kings on Fate Zero and that is Gilgamesh (King of Kings) and Alexander (King of Conquerors). Now, i do have my favorite servants in the story and that is the Berserker Class and the Rider Class (which is Alexander).

The Berserker Class is so freaking awesome! Oh btw, this part was played by Hercules on Fate Stay Night and right now, i don't have any idea about the identity of the Berserker Class in Fate Zero. The Rider Class in Fate Stay Night wasn't anything special, actually you can say that she wasn't given any justice in the story.

However, that all changed in Fate Zero on which the Rider class plays a very funny and important role. Whenever i see this muscle guy and his antics (especially the last episode, on which he bought something online) i really laughed at that notion.

Anyways, the story is progressing quite smoothly and I am waiting in anticipation for the next episode. For me, Fate Zero is one of the best addition in the anime's that is currently aired this season.




Well, i like fantasy stories and perhaps when i am able to accomplish the things that i need to do. Who knows, i might be watching my own story being animated in 2-4 years from now xD!

Well anyways, i can dream can't I?

Till Next time!

Keep The FLames Burning!

Tuesday, October 25, 2011

The Final Countdown Begins!



Due to unforseen events and circumstances, i think i would need to step up the pace starting November. Things will even get harder from this point forward, but i have no other options but to do so.

This is probably my Year's Final countdown so to speak and with the remaining days that are left available to me, i wonder if i will be able to break the deadline that i had set upon myself. Well anyways, things may look difficult for now but i guess this is something that must happen.

The end of the year is just barely 2 months away and that time is far too short for the things that i wanted to do. Moving along those lines, a few obstacles has presented along the way as well. Meh~ it seems that the last quarter of this year has given me nothing but aches and worries and i hope by the end of this year, all these worrying and aches will be forever forgotten.

And yes, this is just my usual rambling for the week that has passed. I'll post a review during the weekends and i hope that you guys will look forward to it.

Till then...

Keep the Flames Burning!!