[♬ Bump of chicken - Harujion]

1. What did you do in 2003 that you’d never done before?
Hm, lots of things actually… not being at home on my birthday for the first time in my life felt pretty strange, though.

2. Did you keep your new years’ resolutions, and will you make more for next year?
I didn’t, I never have and never will.

3. Did anyone close to you give birth?
No.

4. Did anyone close to you die?
No.

5. What countries did you visit?
Belgium, France, Luxemburg, Czech Republic.

6. What would you like to have in 2004 that you lacked in 2003?
Sleep…?

7. What date from 2003 will remain etched upon your memory, and why?
June 2, my birthday (see Q1). December 17 for the ultimate RotK premiere experience.

8. What was your biggest achievement of the year?
Not dying. Seriously.

9. What was your biggest failure?
Worrying about things.

10. Did you suffer illness or injury?
‘Oh yes, a lot’, says the hypochondriac in me.

11. What was the best thing you bought?
Various CDs and DVDs. My pretty Samsung phone.

12. Whose behavior merited celebration?
Mine (for making all the right decisions this year) ^^; My parents’ for giving me time.

13. Whose behavior made you appalled and depressed?
Dubya’s.

14. Where did most of your money go?
Clothes, movie tickets for LotR, DVDs, CDs, books, manga.

15. What did you get really, really, really excited about?
RotK.

16. What song will always remind you of 2003?
El Sol by Zwan and Butterfly Caught by Massive Attack.

17. Compared to this time last year, are you:
i. happier or sadder? happier
ii. thinner or fatter? about the same
iii. richer or poorer? about the same

18. What do you wish you’d done more of?
Not giving a fuck.

19. What do you wish you’d done less of?
Worrying.

20. How will you be spending Christmas?
With my family.

22. Did you fall in love in 2003?
Yes.

23. How many one-night stands?
Zero.

24. What was your favorite TV program?
I didn’t really watch anything regularly… but it’s always nice to fall asleep during Conan O’Brien ^^;

25. Do you hate anyone now that you didn’t hate this time last year?
No. I don’t think I hate anyone at the moment.

26. What was the best book you read?
I read a lot of good books this year, Dazai Osamu’s Ningen Shikaku (No Longer Human) is one of those that impressed me the most.

27. What was your greatest musical (re)discovery?
I rediscovered the wonderful Stone Roses and Ian Brown’s solo stuff when UNKLE’s new album (feat. Ian Brown) came out this year. As for discoveries: I don’t know, I bought too many CDs, like every year ^^;

28. What did you want and get?
Creative stimulation. Time.

29. What did you want and not get?
Money -_-;

30. What was your favorite film of this year?
RotK, definitely.

31. What did you do on your birthday, and how old were you?
The usual uni stress, philosophized with my friends, saw ‘GO’ and missed my family ;_; I was half a year younger than now.

32. What one thing would have made your year immeasurably more satisfying?
A decisive mind.

33. How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2003?
Not having a concept.

34. What kept you sane?
Music. Keeping the TV switched off.

35. Which celebrity/public figure did you fancy the most?
Akiya.

36. What political issue stirred you the most?
The Iraq War.

37. Who did you miss?
My family ;_;

38. Who was the best new person you met?
I met quite a few lovely and interesting people this year but I don’t really know what would qualify a person as ‘best’.

39. Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2003:
Home is where I lay my phone o_O;

40. Quote a song lyric that sums up your year:
When you’re secure, do you feel much safer?
When days never change and it’s three years later
It’s like your life hasn’t changed and it’s three years late
How does it feel to be three years late
And watching your youth drift away?
What seems different seems different today
What seems different seems different today

[♬] Zwan – El Sol

Today was the first quiet day after the Holidays so I finally had some time to fully admire my Christmas presents.

Among other things, I got the first three volumes of the Hagaren (Fullmetal Alchemist) manga – my first shounen manga in quite awhile! And it’s so cool. I thought I might have some problems getting into the visuals of shounen manga again when I’ve been reading shoujo manga only for so long. But it’d probably be more difficult the other way round.
The plot’s not much different than in the TV show. They’ve changed the order of a few events in the anime but those changes aren’t that drastic. I’ve only read the first tankoubon so I’m not that far into the manga yet but I definitely like it a lot.

[♬ Oasis - Live Forever]

It’s a shame really, but to me it looks like inertia’s BBS is more and more becoming a soulseek Q&A. Haven’t posted there in a while and haven’t been reading it very attentively either but when I go there I see at least one soulseek question of the ‘is the server down?’ kind among the latest posts. Someone should go and explain the difference between Japanese rock music and a shitty file sharing program to those who start such threads.

I’ve also been avoiding the Batsu forum. Last time I went there it took about a minute to load because there were lovely little falling snowflakes implemented on the site. And I’m not sure if it’s a wise decision to change the template about 27 times a week when the board isn’t even online half the time.
I know it’s not the admin’s fault but so many posts were deleted after the last server crash, it’s really annoying.
So goodbye, Batsu~

music: The Djali Zwan – Freedom ain’t what it used to be

January is so close already – high time I thought about university and the like! I’m so indecisive about my academical future (if I decide to have one at all)…
It’s so hard to give up certain things. But when you realize you’ve been clinging to them just out of habit and not because you’re still interested in them then it’s about time to move on.
My views have changed so much. The past 2 semesters taught me one thing: I do not want to live in Japan or stay there for more than a few weeks. Japan isn’t exactly open towards other cultures. I don’t think I’d ever feel integrated over there. The language makes it even harder. I love talking to people, discussing things, exchanging opinions and philosophizing. My Japanese will never be good enough to do all of that on the same level as I can in German or English. This would make me feel so terribly isolated, I think I’d go insane.

I know what I want. Choosing a path that the majority of people doesn’t follow can seem so difficult sometimes. I’ll have to overcome a lot of my weaknesses, complexes and insecurities but the months in T. showed me I can overcome them (and quite easily, too). I know it’ll be worth it in the end.

I’m so bored here and I miss my friends in T. It was so cool to have them around every day because they were my driving force without even knowing it. Everyone was so inspiring and encouraged me to do what I love and what I’m good at. Of course, I made my decision and going back is not an option. But I’d love to be in a similar environment again sometime in the near future.

Merry Christmas ^_^

My favourite time of the year. I know that getting the Christmas blues is probably the trendiest thing right now but bah, I’m lovin’ every single bit of it. Minus the insensitive relatives, that is, of course.

scube will be moving her Kagrra site to her new domain soon. I’m a bit said to see her leave ;_; Oh well, it’s not like the site will be lost or something, it’s just that I won’t be hosting it anymore ^^;

That also means more space for new projects @ yuukitenshiNET.

If all goes well, I might start working on a new site (yes, the new site, the one I’ve been dreaming of too much lately -_-;;) soon-ish. I’m still not 100% sure I want to do this – well, I know I want to make a site like that, but exposing my semi-fangirlish outings to the public is one thing I’m not sure about ^^;
I’m not going to include anything on assembling Gundams, though *hint hint* That’s one thing we don’t have a common interest in ^^;

I couldn’t sleep last night because there were too many scenes from the movies in my head. I haven’t reached a conclusion of what I think of RotK as a single movie, though I tend to say it’s excellent with minor flaws.

[spoilers for RotK, highlight to read further]

The opening scene, revealing how Smeagol became Gollum, is brilliant and sets the tone for what is to come very well.
That scene where Arwen sees the child and you get hints on a possible future for her and Aragorn is probably the worst in the whole movie, IMHO. Too kitschy, it doesn’t fit into the film at all. (Though I like Arwen quite a lot and I’m not one of those who believe she gets too much screentime.)

That’s all I can think of at the moment, might add a few thoughts on the film after I’ve seen it again. I really enjoyed watching the three films in one go, it was a real privilege to see the them back-to-back as it made it even more obvious that the LotR trilogy as a whole is the best film ever made. Period.