A Reflection Cut Short

Today, we take a look at the start of the seventh month of the year - and with it, the start of the second half of 2012.

Now, normally, such a thing is reserved for the two days I cross The Bridge of Fate (June 30 and July 1), but as a result of 2012's bridge being either:

• too emotion-driven to make any impact on reflection and assumption, or
• being too short due to laziness bliss,

...it's caused today's entry to be that focus. However, I'm going to have to admit that posting today really wiped me out for some odd reason. No, it has nothing to do with me exhausting any physical or mental resources. It's because I woke up with no resources whatsoever to begin with. Confusing, I know - especially since I've already listed the (unknown?) cause.

Anywho, let's get on it.





CURRENT MUSIC:
Muse - "Hysteria"
Absolution

As the second half of this year starts, it usually ends up being the time of the year for me to go a bit... well, for lack of a better word, let's just say "crazier" - in the past, I've always ended up sinking into some form of self-reflection that ends up eating me from the inside.

I don't know; I'm feeling good about this time of the year, though. People who've known me in the past know how negative I've been before in life, and the past six months of sheer, unadulterated optimism seems to be quite the welcome surprise.

"Hysteria" seemed to fit this conflicted sense of feeling within me - that old, emotionally feral being wants to run rampant and make me lose control. I honestly don't think I should give it a chance, and if my mind wants to think otherwise, I'll blare this song and its guitar-driven "insanity" through my eardrums and into my soul.

Surprisingly, this song works quite well for online gaming - particularly with FPS scrims (Counter-Strike surprisingly worked well) or PvP combat in MMORPGs (though I'm not sure I could kill with Gefallen's current condition). That, and to a degree, street racing nighttime driving. *shifty eyes*

(Author's Note: Getting a case of déjà vu? You've probably crossed 2011's Bridge of Fate alongside me, then.

Now, the reason I so blatantly copied and pasted last year's music entry onto this one was because the words still seem to hold true this year as well. Life has been pretty amazing these past few months, and in a strange turn of events (well, strange for me), it's only been getting better. *knocks on wood* At the same time, "Hysteria" seems to capture this feeling, despite the lyrics seemingly implying otherwise.

Regardless, my stance still stands on this song. It's an awesome piece that seems to fit the overall aura of the mid-way point of the year. Plus, it's filled with adrenaline - and that's something I'll need to get myself into an overdrive mode (that isn't really necessary, but hey - drama's important).


Michiru Oshima - "Brothers"
Fullmetal Alchemist Original Soundtrack 3

This particular piece brings back memories for me. Fullmetal Alchemist - the original series (not to be confused with Brotherhood) - has the honor of being the first anime series I watched from start to finish in its entirety. Someone in high school recommended that I watch it and he let me rent his collection. Needless to say... I was amazed and basically took every moment of time not being spent on school, homework, video games, and sleep watching the show.

Anyway, back to "Brothers." It is one of two instrumental variants of the coveted song "БРАТЬЯ" ("Bratja" - or "Brothers" - in Russian Cyrillic), which was one of the signature pieces of music from the original anime series. The other instrumental, "Recollection," is a direct instrumental version of "Bratja" (that is, it's "Bratja" without the vocals). While "Recollection" and "Bratja" are both excellent pieces themselves, "Brothers" seems to take the power of the song and somehow boil the emotion down so that a lone... *listens intently* ...viola?... can carry the message of the song and still have the same dramatic impact that a whole string section and choir delivered.

And what was that message, you ask? Well, I'm not entirely sure - the choir sings in Russian, and I know jack about the Russian language. However, from what I've seen from the translations and what not it seems that it's a song whose message could've been sung by the Elric brothers to each other. A song that came to be after they frakked around with the taboos of human transmutation. While it's meaningful in the English language, I don't think it can outdo what the Russian language did with the message. It's beautiful. (Despite the superiority of the song in Russian, it didn't stop Vic Mignogna - Edward Elric's English dub voice - from trying to carry the emotion into English. I think he succeeded.)





Good day, everyone. Let's just get to it.

For about three four days now I've had the strangest case of... well, the closest term I can come up with to describe it would be "insomnia," so we'll just call it that. I haven't been able to get much sleep - and surprisingly, none of it had anything to do with caffeine or sugar ingestion on any night prior. (Okay, maybe one night. But the other three? Hrm.)

As much as it has me perplexed over why this is happening, I have to find it weirder that I actually don't mind going through this particular... ordeal? Happenstance? Whatever. Anyway, life has been fan-frakking-tastic as of late. My workmates would know all about this (hell, they were somewhat creeped out by how ecstatic I've been lately), but I figured that for the rest of you who haven't hung around me lately, y'all ought to know.





In other news, I just realized that six months have passed by without any real mention of my resolutions or how well I've been doing on them. Well... frak. I think it's time I start working on them! Six months left and zero work to show for any of it! I'm afraid I'm going to have to cut myself short today and leave you with an impromptu "until the 'morrow!" *rushes to Barnes & Noble to get a copy of some music books*