Regretting that I went early

I was at band camp for the past few days and obviously I didn't like it. Not talking about the food or the rules, just didn't like the cover up for the lack of programmes. Although it's a common problem to face a lack of programmes since the duration is decided before the schedule. However, anyone looking at the programmes would find it similar to Animal Farm. Morning: Band Practice, Afternoon: Free time, Evening: Sectionals. Seems alright at first sight, but what I want to talk about is the middle part. It's free time, but you should have sectionals. Not saying that there would be any penalty if you didn't, but of course the peer pressure that is present is the most important factor of all. Therefore, no one dared to slack off. For those of you who read Animal Farm, you should remember the officially called "Voluntary work" on Sunday, but if you don't work, you don't eat. However, this is a slightly different situation. As I've said earlier, there is only peer pressure that is present. However, peer pressure is not something which you can measure. Therefore, it would not be obvious whether you would have made any sacrifices for slacking off, especially in the modern society which is governed by law. Thus, Jia Sheng can say that we were given nice choices on how to use our time (e.g. go for an outing, movie, LAN etc.), but we simply were too enthusiastic. However, I doubt that he had actually planned all this. So are things born this way? The most common method to counter all these miseries is not to go for the camp, but attendance is important (there's attendance?). I actually went because DM said it was the fun type of camp (agreed, very slacking attitude indeed), but very boring (get a life please, no one can stand doing the same thing over and over again for one whole day). I too was given a chance to go later, but somehow I didn't. Not saying that there aren't other methods to counter, but I would say that the materials needed aren't ready.

Boredom

It's hard to be a loner you know. I've been feeling rather lonely since the holidays started, so wanting to talk to someone or go out a little bit. However, due to my hatred for crowded places and my weird complex, I want to go home the moment I see someone I don't know. Therefore, I always stayed at home. At home, the only source of entertainment was the computer (channel 5 and 8 only have noobshit shows), which I use to play DotA and watch anime. By the way, I've stopped watching ハヤテのごとく, reason being the absence of relationship between the episodes. In the meantime, I've finished 2 other animes and is currently watching Elfen Lied (The first anime which I couldn't find on any chinese video sharing sites. The most simple and straight forward reason would be because the anime contained too much H, and if you look at the introduction on 百度 and Wikipedia, you would notice that Wikipedia sounded much more positive than 百度. If you simply watched the beginning of the story, then you would most likely say that it sucked, but the middle part was rather meaningful. However, there is something I agree with 百度, which is the introduction of characters which get killed soon after they get brought into the story, which is one thing the 漫画家 did to sell more paper I suppose. However, what was more weird was that the anime had all these 废 parts as well, but did not really follow closely with the manga. Of course part of it was to hide some H, but they could have put in more meaningful stuff like showing more of 耕太's anxiety when Nyuu went missing and not making it seem like 耕太 found her immediately after.), which would last me for at most 2 more days, then I will continue clearing my long list of anime waiting to be watched. Good thing there's band prac tomorrow, not saying that I like it very much, but having a change is important.

JLPT tomorrow

From the beginning of the holidays till now, I haven't revised much for this test other than reading 7 pages of my "狼と香辛料". Good news is I can remember about 60% of the words I learnt from that book, and bad news is: I am reading too slowly. How am I supposed to read fast if I only do when there is no band prac or school stuff? Recently, my Japanese haven't been improving as fast as it was during the June holidays, maybe because I grew more comfortable with the major slacking before the EOY exams. To be honest, I would say that I may be the only one that actually bothers to study at home, where as others simply slack or do what they like with what they have (If you don't understand what I mean, your literature is a failure. And if you are thinking that my lit is nothing better, is because the problem lies with my writing skills, not my comprehension skills), therefore still allowing me to remain dominant. However, what is the point of a veteran owning noobs? He still dies when he meets and elite. You look at the strongest chess players or the best sportsmen, their opponent aren't any weaker, it's just that because of that slightest bit of coincidence which allowed them to win. Half a year ago I was amazed by the J2 senior who survived through 6 years of 3rd Lang (though I think that his 3rd lang results may not be that good due to the scarce number of people that are actually still surviving), but now, it seems that there aren't much things that actually inspire me to become better because of the lack of a challenge. If you doubt what I say, go look at the online games people play. A very simple example would be Maple. The pro gamers tell you that it's a game for babies, but look at the number of people playing! Why? Because there is a challenge! Some people tell me that they have to play comp for the whole holiday just because they do not want to be outleveled by their friends. (-.-"') So basically, the presence of a challenge is very important. Until now, my parents are still bloody worried that I would screw up the test. (Are they still not confident enough just by seeing the overpwnage EOY overall which I got?) But honestly, if I screw up the test, it would a real waste of time and effort.

Waking Up or still in Wonderland?

Well, it's not really a matter of whether I am awake or not, but I feel that this reminder had given me a better understanding of the current circumstances. The concert was yesterday, personally I think we did alright, but well, some people weren't happy. Looking at the easy pieces we played (we just had a lot of off-beats), it just wasn't enough. I know we rehearsed many times, but we are just too shy (ignoring that fact that we only got like 2/3 of the people) and the song turned out to be very soft (but good :) ). Still, at the end of the day, we sucked. I know that the SC also told us that we were alright, but somehow only the nasty stuff went into my head. "You were not together..." and other stuff, but I would also say that part of it was because we were not used to the way the Assistant conductor conducts. Personally I think that the concert is somehow used to flame us. I was also told that this was chapter one only, and I was thinking of it as 2 or 3 then but realised that it was only the prolouge. There would be many stuff waiting for me when school reopens (CSE, SIMO, MOP, SMP, 3rd Lang). Simply these 5 are enough to kill me, which means there would be some sacrifice, but no, there wouldn't be.