The Triple Digit Club

When it comes to personal endeavors, certain milestones in its progress just beg to be marked and recognized for all humanity to notice (hopefully).

Today happens to be an endeavor of its own - a mark to show my resilience and my dedication to getting something done despite everything going on in my life.

...the big "One-Zero-Zero."

...and yes, caffeine helps. A lot. Along with misreading your work schedule and finding you have plenty of time to type something up. Emoticon time! =D

CURRENT MUSIC:

Acid Black Cherry - "sins"

Black List

Interesting song. I never would have pictured a J-Rock artist delving into something Christian.

I mean, pleading with Jesus about the ever-queried idea of self-purpose? The existence of the seven deadly sins in daily life?

Weird... but at the same time it had a quirk to it I just couldn't ignore.

And for some reason, I can see a Fullmetal Alchemist anime music video with this song.

If I had the know-how and the time, I think I'd make it, too.

Another interesting thing: "sins" works quite well as something you'd blare during a nighttime drive or when you're street-racing.

...don't ask me how I know this. *shifty eyes*

Alizée - "À contre-courant"

Mes Courants Électriques

...I think I'm hooked on Alizée for the time being. Being an artist filed under "A" doesn't help either.

Whenever I access my iPod's playlist and feel too lazy to listen to random songs and choose instead to scroll and select something I recognize, I just hit up the top 5% of the list - and sure enough, Alizée's there.

Not that that's a bad thing. Nope. Not at all. But it makes me wish I took French back in high school...

*clears throat*

Anyway, after getting the lyrics of "À contre-courant" (English: "A Counter-Current") translated, I began to analyze it to see if there was any other underlying reason why I felt so attached to this song.

With all the double-meanings and electric-based metaphors, I figured something was up, and my suspicions about an electrical romance of some kind were correct when I searched for other people's interpretations.

While it's generally agreed that the singer and her love are together, I also drew a second meaning - the  singer is not in a relationship with her would-be lover, but has pretty much admitted to herself that she has fallen for them.

And because of this song, it's made me analyze love itself and my stance on it*. For someone like me (I consider myself cynically lovelorn), it seems to empower me with something, although I don't know what.

* = While I would love to write something on this topic, delving on the subject usually sends my emotions into a downward spiral. So, nothing for you today unless something drastic happens.

Ray Parker, Jr. - "Ghostbusters"

Ghostbusters Original Soundtrack

...yeah. I did just listen to this song. 

Yeah, it's badass. 

Yes, I'll probably blare it at work after we're closed.

Why? Simple: "Bustin' makes me feel good!" =P

Vitamin String Quartet - "Over My Head (Sum 41 Cover)"

The String Quartet Tribute to Sum 41

Quite an interesting cover that got some airplay while I was typing this entry up.

In case you don't know who the Vitamin String Quartet are, they're a bunch of classically-trained musicians from the Los Angeles area who translate and perform songs from modern artists and singers (mostly those in the rock genre) into a string quartet format (generally two violins, a viola and a cello).

I've always interpreted Sum 41's "Over My Head (Better Off Dead)" as a sort-of wake-up call one has when they notice something wrong with their lives and - more importantly - themselves.

It's a great song to listen to (especially if you're trashing your room in a fit of self-rage like I did a few years back).

Raw, fast energy combined with self-questioning lyrics? In my opinion, it gives the song a somewhat-aggressive sound.

VSQ was able to keep that emotion in their rendition of it, and I liked that. Lots.

"The true poet has no choice of material. The material plainly chooses him - not he it."

- J. D. Salinger

I've always believed that we as artists don't find our inspirations and muses as often as they find us.

You don't sit there thinking of ideas - that takes too long, and quite frankly, they're usually the most bland things one can concoct in their minds.

Rather, the best things I've seen came while one was doing something - a seemingly casual thing or idea trickled from the mountaintops and gradually roared its way into the ocean in a matter of seconds.

Hell, that "mountain" metaphor I used above came to me while I was copy editing this entry - I wasn't even intending on editing it.

Hello to everyone viewing this humble little blog! Welcome to today's entry on The White Knight Chronicles.

In case today's entry title or the summary weren't enough of an obvious hint for you, then you either aren't perceptive enough or you just don't care.

Let's hope it wasn't either of the two. Or worst-case scenario: the first.

If you were redirected here from that link I posted on Facebook:

Welcome to my current "project:" posting an entry daily on this thing for a year (and then continuing on - hey, I need a blog).

Longtime readers of my blogging are probably going, "Wow. Just like old times." Indeed - the format's kind of stuck in my mind, and I like it.

Anyway, I've been posting here for the last 100 days because I know not everyone uses Facebook - and I kind of want a global audience. That, and Facebook's note-posting feature doesn't handle as ideally as I'd like it to.

More importantly, Facebook has pretty much downgraded itself from a social network to something on the lines of an online gaming parlor (and a crappy one at that), and in order to escape the numerous people I know on there who forced me to edit my infamous "Hate List" the first time, I went here.

Yes, I'll still be on FB, using it for its original intent (social networking, in case you're too illiterate to know), but the bulk of my daily shenanigans, project announcements and just about everything else will now be here.

So, if you're one of those friends of mine who have some weird impulse to spy on me (quite likely if I enter an isolationist state my friends have dubbed "Josh Land"), I suggest you bookmark this blog.

Yes, I'm aware I sound petty, and I apologize for that. However, I'm no Jacqueline Howett, and I have no intention on becoming one.

Oh, and in case you're the type to comment on things I say or do, please note that anybody can comment on here. Like I said, I want a global audience, and the only way I can do that is if people who don't have an account on Blogger are able to read and comment on this stuff.

Tell your friends!

(Now, with that introductory welcome to newcomers set aside, let's continue on the meat of today's entry. *noms on some turkey jerky*)

100 posts in a row!? Amazing! I didn't think I'd actually get this far with my New Year's resolution, but so far, I have. Astounding, isn't it? With all the self-generated joy I'm getting from typing this up, it's making me want to just write about stuff!

But... what is there to talk about on this entry for today? I mean, I can only stretch the "awesomeness" of 100 posts so far.

Other websites have it easier - webcomics do some crazy and somewhat silly self-referential joke, TV shows (usually those in the comedy department) do some musical number or have some big plot advancement, and musicians sit there going "Wow. 100 songs. I'm awesome."

But as for blog writers whose goals (for the time being, at least) are small readership from friends and talking about things ranging from daily life to random things they notice... well, what is there to be joyous about?

I mean, I originally intended this to be just a little online journal and what not, but the writer in me is compelling me to just post about everything and nothing at the same time (oh, that sounds like an interesting analysis) and work up a fan base for something, be it my writing, any random projects in the future, or (in a weird way:) me.

Well, I suppose I can say that since this is a New Year's resolution that is still one for one (haven't missed a single day yet - check the timestamps if you don't believe me), it hallmarks something grand: underlying determination in a trying time.

Granted, the only "trying" thing I have going on would be work and class, but... I kind of want to put my own lethargy on that list as well.

After all, I wanted to conquer my ever-present boredom with life. As I mentioned ten days ago, I'm easily bored with most things and just want to finish everything despite knowing full well that it's just not possible at this time.

TL;DR: There will be changes coming. I'm not going to ruin the surprise by saying what they are or when they'll be unfurled, because that's exactly like looking at the end of a book.

Cheapskates.

However, I can say that this lethargy I have is slowly going to drop. I can't say when or where, but the process is imminent* and forthcoming. Time will tell, and so will my actions.

Instead, I'll just work on them in secret. And if you know me and my policies on secrets, then you know the odds of me revealing them any time soon.

Okay, so that took a while. Obviously I haven't really outgrown the whole "ranting" thing, but if it makes it look any better, I've gotten a lot better at controlling my angst and depression. (I still have my days, but hey - who doesn't?)

Ask anyone who's read my past blogs - they can tell you that I've raved in a negative fashion quite a lot in my younger years.

If my Xanga was still up (yes, I had one) or if I felt like linking my old MySpace or Facebook posts, you'd know full well how raging I was.

(I might provide one later on.)

And apart from that, there's not much else to say today. I got work later on, and I'll probably be spelunking in my storage unit or playing Pokémon: White Version before then.

So, until the 'morrow, everyone. Here's to another great 100 posts in a row! *throws confetti around*