Today's cover picture is from Studio Ghibli's production of When Marnie Was There - based on a novel by Joan G. Robinson. It's my latest Ghibli film so far, and has become an addition to my list of favourite works by the famed studio. I highly recommend it - both the film and the book - if you haven't tried it, especially if you're looking for a book with a quaint, peaceful plot to wind down and while your leisurely hours away. Then again, who actually has leisurely hours to begin with...
These days I've been in quite a daze, as if I'm just drifting along with the motions while the sounds around me get blurred out. Maybe it's my way of unconsciously trying to lighten the burden of reality. I get assignments and chores done as I go down a systematic checklist, but I'm not really thinking... about things like future plans, personal desires - the things that should really get me motivated to push on in life.
I daydream a lot - random old faces surface every now and then and I wonder how they're doing, what it'd be like if we were still close etc. Or I imagine myself with different personalities (like what if I were secretly a sleeper agent, or a mutant), just to keep myself entertained. I'd wonder about how I appear to the stranger sitting opposite me in the train carriage, or try to imagine what kind of lives the people I watch from my seat on the bus lead as it drives them by. As I lie on my bed in the darkness and turn to my side, I think about whether I would go to bed alone like this every other night for the following years to come, or whether I would sense the warmth of another living person next to me. Whenever I hold Skippy and look into his eyes with those slight cataracts, I let the cold realisation of his impending departure wash over me for a bit before I shake it all away...
I feel like nothing.
But that's something.
And even in this lonely, peaceful existence that I revel in, I want someone to notice who I am. I want to be wondered about. Maybe that's why I write, and write and write. I don't write useful, intelligent or even controversial articles that stir the sentiments of people who would eagerly pounce on them to share on social media. That's because I'm not looking for recognition or popularity, or any of those fleeting things. But I want people to know I existed somewhere, some time in this world. That one day in the distant future someone would read my words and know who I was.
I picked up my pen to write the first of many years' worth of diary entries in Primary 6 after I was inspired by The Diary of Anne Frank. She was a figure from the past, but she was real. She was human, with all her dreams and fears. I didn't meet her, but I know her from her own words. Not just Anne Frank - shows like Natsume Yuujinchou and When Marnie Was There with the similar plot of knowing someone from the past get to me as well.
I don't have to invent something or perform some miraculous act for me to claim a place in someone's thoughts when I've expired and gone from this world. I can just be the ordinary but very much existent person I am.
I never had that many friends growing up
So I learned to be okay with
Just me, just me, just me, just me
And I'll be fine on the outside
I like to eat in school by myself anyway
So I'll just stay
Right here, right here, right here, right here
And I'll be fine on the outside
So I just sit in my room after hours with the moon
And think of who knows my name
Would you cry if I died
Would you remember my face?
So I left home, I packed up and l moved
Far away
From my past one day
And I laughed, I laughed, I laughed, I laughed
I sound fine on the outside
Ha ha ha...
Sometimes I feel lost, sometimes I'm confused
Sometimes I find
That I am not alright
And I cry, and I cry, and I cry....
Ha ha ha...
So I just sit in my room after hours with the moon
When the voices start to chime in one after another, they coalesce into an intense blur - and all I want to do is to throw down whatever I'm doing and run down a quiet, deserted path where I can lose myself and all sense of the reality waiting.
But even in the silence, I am restless. Even though I can't hear their voices, I see their faces in my mind and our every past interaction surging back. On each memory I cast my doubts and insecurities, and they shuffle along. I can see them looking at me, whispering among each other. But these, vivid as they are, play out only in my conscious. If only I could scratch these useless feelings away and get rid of them.
I am extremely insecure. Most people, to varying extents, are. But I feel it cling to my being like an unwanted disease. I feel it the more I try to hide it, to suppress it. I don't show others how afraid I actually am, but still insist that they do not hold back. And yet even so, I'm not satisfied or appeased. Unsettled, I think about how they're still not completely honest with me, how they'd turn away and reveal what they truly think of me without me there.
When this happens, I start to desire for either one of two things. To disappear and be done with people, to not care about what people think, because it's so much easier to tell someone not to care than to actually disregard the insecurity yourself. The second thing I desire is the ability to read minds.
If I think about it rationally, reading minds isn't actually as great as it sounds for so many reasons. But the way I see it, knowing each and every single thought of everyone I meet would probably give my insecurity a rest. Not because I want to change myself to be the kind of person people would appreciate.
The way I am now, I look at people and think about how they perceive me. Each and every single action, word - anything - I'd give more consideration than necessary and try to determine if they like me or hate me. When I come to know about something that I feel I ought to have known earlier, I'm haunted with many "Why"s. If I could know how they think of me, favourable or unfavourable, at least I don't have to go on a fruitless process of uncertainty and questioning. At least I could deal with it faster and with more resolve. At least I don't have to feel so worthless and hateful about myself.
And I know it's hard to deal with insecurity. It's so easy to tell myself to grow a backbone and deal with it. What can others say? If they knew, they'd be even more careful with the way they interact with me, and that's even worst because they'd be hiding even more from me. This insecurity be damned.
The last post I mentioned how the scent of lavender has calming effects on me especially when I'm stressed out...and now I'm thinking about how I really need a whole truckload of lavender now. Or maybe I just need to get on that truck and drive far away from all the bullshit that has happened, lavender sprigs flying everywhere.
Now I personally don't like to rant online in a way that appears as if I'm launching an underhanded, indirect and cowardly attack on someone that I didn't confront personally first. Having been slammed by people I knew in secondary school without them getting their facts right (beyond trashy gossip) was scarring enough, so I don't think it's wise or mature to do anything that comes close to that. But after (finally) calming down and pondering about whatever just happened yesterday made me realise a few things about human interaction that happen all the time but seldom get pointed out. And that is what I will focus on writing about today, without losing control and eventually launching into an angry tirade (I'll try).
So what happened was this. I'm involved in a school event held by the Japanese club in my university as a scriptwriter for the concert component at night. After listening to what the PDs wanted roughly and getting ideas from my two lovely assistant scriptwriters, I finally drafted a script that was more story-based than your usual/ordinary emcee script. The draft was sent out a week ago to everyone on the storyboard group, including the two emcees, to have a look and voice any concerns they might have so that I could refine it better. Initially, there didn't seem to be any particular problem save for remarks about the tone and expression of the lines. These were pretty minor, so I continually revisited the script and tried different ways of speech that'll be more natural for our emcees to perform.
UNTIL.
The morning of Friday the 13th yesterday during my seminar class, I opened my Telegram chat to find a barrage of comments by one of the emcees (whom I will refer to as Person X) that basically voiced strong disapproval about the script and sought for it to be done all over again. And we had scheduled a reading of the original script in the afternoon on the very same day. Now here's where the situation gets sticky.
Person X wasn't all disapproving without justification - meaning he did give reasons as to why he felt the original script wouldn't do - reasons that made sense. Even in the midst of my indignance at the time I was going through his comments, I recognised the validity of his points.
I had many gripes about this. My main gripe was the (rude) way in which he put forth his opinion, which I will elaborate on later. The next was the whole timing of it. We were only a week away from rehearsals, and now we had to make a major revision to the script as quickly as we could and give time for the emcees to practice. One of the PDs informed me that X had personal matters to attend to that week thereby accounting for his late comments, which I accepted (albeit grudgingly). Third - if X saw these valid flaws in the script, why in the world did nobody else notice it and point it out earlier!?
That afternoon I turned up at the clubroom in low spirits and tried to make sense of the situation with the PDs and other scriptwriters in the clubroom. I asked them if they honestly had identified with what X pointed out earlier. When a couple of them admitted that they did think it was a minor cause for concern at the beginning, I almost lost it and asked why they didn't say so earlier. Anyway to sum up, we came up with another premise for the script, and I spent HOURS (that I should've spent doing my bloody readings) rewriting the whole script today. Don't get me wrong, I definitely know revisions are inevitable in scriptwriting. But I would have GREATLY appreciated these call for revisions much earlier and not less than a week to the rehearsals. ><
Right here's the part that I wanted to focus on, really, apart from that seething summary of events above. A friend of mine told me that most interactions between people are basically negotiations - where interlocutors observe and make judgements of the current interaction before deciding on the kind of stance or contribution they would put forth. Different parties may have different motives and expectations from the communication, but through this process they eventually meet in the middle even if it means compromising a little of your opinions or true feelings.
I've met many people with strong personalities in my life before, people who are assertive and have firm principles - which is admirable. Good for you, that's what I think.
But when you bring that with you into an interaction with someone else (especially if you haven't met or spoken with this person before), you can't really expect to always have everything go your way, or keep up with that assertive personality of yours. This isn't to say you should go out of your way to pretend to be nice and all. But following that negotiation process, someone would have to accommodate you when you insist on just dumping whatever you like unreservedly into the conversation because "this is who I am, whether you like it or not." That's not admirable anymore - that's just being self-centred and ANNOYING.
I've never interacted with Person X even once before all these happened, so I was in for a rude shock. Maybe he believes being brutally honest without beating about the bush is effective and is in his personality. But since it's my first time talking to this guy, I don't really care what kind of "amazing" person he is apart from what he has to offer in our interaction. I ended up feeling shitty as I had to hold back from retaliating, which in that way was me unwillingly accommodating with his bigotry.
The finishing blow was when he "offered" to, as I quote "bang out something" (a completely new script). Whether or not he intended it, I took it personally as an insensitive challenge to not only all the time and effort I poured into my work, but my pride and responsibility as the scriptwriter. I firmly (and indirectly) replied back on the same group chat that "we haven't confirmed that X would be going to write another draft for us yet." In the end, X didn't have to "bang out something" because I made a completely new draft today.
Sigh. I really don't like being angry, and losing control of my composure because of that. I rarely do - in fact I do like to think that my threshold of tolerance was quite deep. As I stormed into the clubroom yesterday, some of the club members were trying to console me. It was really uncool because I was still raging and a couple of the Year 1 guys in the room inched their way behind one of the PDs like "halp can we hide behind you". I was struggling to be professional about it and focus on getting out new ideas for the script so I could complete it well before next week's rehearsal.
School just started a couple of days ago, and it's a relief I haven't barfed from apprehension when faced with the menacing deadlines of my CA-heavy modules throughout this new semester.
The first week of school is when you shuffle awkwardly into your lecture/ seminar room, inconspicuously surveying your classmates - some of whom would be your potential project mates. Maybe you give yourself an inner fist pump when you notice that eyecandy whom you haven't seen since the start of winter break is also taking the same module as you. You chatter away with the course-mates you've sat in lectures with in the past few semesters, gossiping about your new professor based on what you heard from your seniors, or grumbling about how you're going to struggle with multiple deadlines from all your different modules etc etc.
By now, most of us in the second semester of our second year might feel a little jaded - going through the motions as we've done for the past three arduous semesters. But the anticipation and adrenaline you feel doesn't really change, just like how a runner might feel as he waits for his cue to take off at the starting line.
I'm really looking forward to breaking out of all the ennui I was immersed in from the past winter break. I'd been feeling really listless and removed from the world around me, as if plodding numbly through the days. Of course there were times of fun and excitement, but with their brevity I wind up lapsing into melancholy again. So hopefully with school starting I might be jolted back into action, into reality again.
Anyway, I thought I might write a little about my choice of the cover picture for this post. Most if not all of my posts' cover pictures have some sort of connection to, or capture the vibe of my feelings or thoughts at the moment I write the post. This time it's lavender fields, because the scent of lavender is one of my favourites. I have this little aroma burner in my room which I'd light up and put a few drops of lavender oil to create a more relaxing atmosphere in my room, especially on days I feel anxious or stressed out. It also helps that the lavender was the iconic flower used in 時をかける少女 The Girl Who Leapt Through Time, making it all the more favourable. To me, it's become a sort of remedy or visual cue to calm down whenever I may be experiencing anxiety - which would pretty much be what I'll feel for this new semester!
I haven't posted anything since last year!? Nah, really it was only a few weeks ago.
Actually I had a half-written draft that was roughly about reflections on the past year, thoughts about how overrated new year countdowns are and hopes for 2017...but I lost motivation part way through when I got tired of seeing those (albeit shorter versions) as I scrolled through social media. Don't get me wrong, I'm not belittling the reflections and aspirations of others. But a part of me somehow tries to resist following the masses - at least until the current hype dies down. (Yes, I'm more often than not that person who gets excited over something everyone else has already gotten over.)
On Tuesday afternoon, I saw Dawn off at the airport before she flew off to Canada for her exchange studies there. Part of me was excited for her, another part was a little sad that she'd be away for so long, and yet another part was worried about how she'd fare over there. And I thought, this muddle of feelings must really be part of what being a long-running, true friend is. Because when I think about how I'd feel if just about most other people I know fly off, and I end up with indifference.
I don't have many of such friends for whom I care so deeply about. Dawn and Iggy come to mind first when I think about it. Dawn and I met in VJC, while Iggy and I go all the way back to secondary school days in BPGHS. I've probably said this many times, but I'm grateful for these friendships. The reason probably is because I find that it's generally hard to be close friends with me. I can still be friendly and sociable to most people I meet, but I tend to get all defensive and distant the more people try to reach out to me.
So how did Dawn and Iggy wind up being such close friends? Well since it's friendship we're talking about here, it goes both ways so I can't exactly give you the full picture. But for my side of the story, it went like this.
Dawn was extremely (yes, extremely) extroverted and outgoing when I met her during our orientation in VJC, so I was initially a little put off by all the energy that threatened to suck away mine (the horror of all introverts!). But because she hung around and persistently talked to me all the time, she somehow slowly established her place in my life and I got used to her. In fact, her extreme candidness made me feel comfortable around her, since I'm usually guarded due to my insecurity of people talking behind my back. She was the first friend since primary school that I would actually quarrel with and ignore, before easily reconciling again. It felt nice to thrash it out with someone instead of having to silently grin and bear with the misgivings of others. Sometimes when I need my own personal space I'd not reply her messages, or decline meeting up. But she knows when I'm in those phases (and never lets me hear the end of how unfriendly I'm being when we eventually talk/meet).
Iggy on the other hand has a different story altogether. We were classmates for all of lower secondary, but we only really got to know each other much better towards upper secondary. Even though we went to different JCs, we'd still meet up sometimes. This all sounds very normal, but I felt that the crucial factor was timing. We didn't chat everyday or meet up very often. In fact, like Dawn, we could go on a couple of months without interacting and suddenly just talk again right after as if time hadn't passed. This made me a lot more comfortable knowing that we could both have our own space without compromising our friendship. It also helps that Iggy and I share many interests together like anime, theme parks, Star Wars etc., so it makes it easier to talk without having to struggle coming up with a topic. He calls me mean things like "fat" and "old" now, and sometimes makes me feel bad about not going jogging, but I'm glad that we're just close enough to tease each other without offending.
Anyway I thought about "Friends", because I chanced upon a trailer/music video for 『一週間フレンズ。』Ishuukan Friends (One Week Friends).
Rough Translation:
Hase (Yamazaki Kento):
Fujimiya-san!
Please be friends with me! (killer smile)
I'd definitely not do anything undesirable or troublesome.
Every Monday as usual - whatever happens I'll continue as usual,
so please be friends with me.
Fujimiya (Kawaguchi Haruna):
You're Hase-kun, right?
Hase:
(Adorable AF smile) Yes!
First of all the music Kanade by Sukima Switch is awesome!! And gosh Yamazaki Kento and Kawaguchi Haruna look so good?! But really, Yamazaki Kento has been monopolizing all the anime turned live-action film main roles. He did Heroine Shikkaku, Kuro Ouji to Ookami Shoujo, Orange, Shigatsu Kimi no Uso, and now Ishuukan Friends. And I heard he's gonna do Saiki Kusuo too :O But he's ikemen (Japanese for good-looking guys) and acts really well too, so I don't mind :3
Fujimiya has anterograde amnesia that resets every Monday, causing her to lose memories of the previous week. As such, she does not make friends in school and initially rejects Hase's attempts to be friends with her. However, he persists in being friends with her despite her forgetting him every week. I was thinking "How nice" when I saw this, but it really isn't easy at all. While it's nice that there are people out there who would go out of their way to be friends with, it won't work if the other party just doesn't want to. But I guess we all need at least one good friend to share such priceless experiences with.
I just finished watching a gameplay walkthrough of FFXV (courtesy of theRadBrad on YouTube) and it's been a roller coaster ride of emotions for me. I kinda need to write about it to soothe all the feels that are just going batshit crazy inside.
Since I don't own a PS4 or some other game console compatible with the new game + I probably won't be able to clear the game easily what with my amateur gaming skills and experience, I had to settle with watching the gameplay online.
I've always been absolutely fascinated with the Final Fantasy series simply for their breathtaking otherworldly setting and plot that always extend the boundaries of my own imagination. While I can't say I'm well-versed in all the games having only played FFXIII firsthand and reading up/watching gameplays for some of the more popular ones in the series, I do share the passionate appreciation that FF fans have for the series.
Each new game in the series always seem to endeavour (usually with success) to outdo its predecessor in the various aspects of design, graphics, plot, gameplay, extra features and even background music - in-excluding FFXV. The bar only seems to be set increasingly higher.
If I and many other players/fans have little to no imagination of what could possibly trump the latest existing game and nothing else but just great anticipation and expectation for the next game in the series, imagine the enormous challenge the creators at SQUARE ENIX are presented with. Which is why I don't really complain if the release of a game is delayed or pushed back by even a year or so, since good things are really worth the wait provided you don't die before then.
Overall I thoroughly enjoyed exploring the universe of FFXV in the game, with its relatively flexible interface and extensive features compared to the older games. Graphics and character designs were detailed and enjoyable to watch - I'd sometimes pause just to admire certain scenes for a while. However I find that in boosting these aspects, the plot and character story development in the game were compromised. Of course, you can't have the best of both worlds of gameplay and plot, but I was slightly disappointed and rather unsettled about the end. I felt like I wasn't afforded the catharsis I longed for.
I'll be sectioning my posts according to the different aspects from here on to give a more elaborate review. It'll mostly be a comparison to FFXIII, since it is the latest preceding FF video RPG before FFXV (FFXIV was a MMORPG so not much for comparison in my opinion). This is also where I'd flash the spoiler alert for any soul who has wandered here and wishes to check out FFXV on his/her own first without the influence of my opinions.
Graphics and Designs
I love the amount of effort dedicated to making the FFXV universe as real and interactive as possible. I don't even mind how much the setting resembles our own world and doesn't really venture into the more ethereal or fantasy-like realm such as in FFXIII, because I simply marvelled at the beauty of the designs. For the most part of the game early on, Noctis and his crew cruise around in the Regalia (the royal car) from location to location during which you can really take in the sights. I do wish they had more "natural" settings like in Duscae, even though the cities like Lestallum and Altissia were beautiful too.
However as the game progresses, the universe of FFXV becomes a lot less colourful and more forbidding to suit the dire straits it was in. Though necessary in that way, it was a little frustrating when most of the ending part was dark and hard to see.
The characters, especially the main four guys that the game follows for the most part - Noctis, Prompto, Gladiolus and Ignis - were well-written and complement one another really well. One of my favourite parts of the game was seeing the interaction among the four, and how various side characters or obstacles they encounter always reminded them how important their brotherhood was. My only gripe is that the overall plot of the game didn't really do much justice to these well-written characters, which is quite a waste. I'll describe in more detail in the plot section.
Gameplay
Since most negative reviews about FFXIII seemed to focus on its linearity throughout the game, it seems like the creators took that into consideration and went all out with extra features, side quests and extensive map that affords players more freedom in the game than they can imagine...at least for the early part of the game.
For those who are unfamiliar what linearity in games mean: it simply refers to how much freedom you have sometimes in relation to the progress of the game. Games like FFXIII are considered more linear in that all players generally follow the same route and take on the same main quests as dictated by the game, while in FFXV you run anywhere you want at your own time and have the choice to do whichever side quests you please along the way (of course doing so may cost or benefit you in terms of time taken to clear the game or extra EXP earned). Players may experience the game in the way that suits them, which is swell.
The combat style is really different from FFXIII. You don't lapse into a special fight arena in this one when you encounter enemies, but simply just run head on against them or avoid them as you traverse the map. The paradigm system found in FFXIII where you assign specific roles like medic or ravager to party members is also done away in FFXV. All party members are automatically engaged in combat and attack the enemy all at once (without taking turns). Without a specific medic, you have to rely a lot more on potions and phoenix downs to heal or revive members during the battle.
The combat system that affords player a lot more freedom to move about also increases the chances of blocking or parrying attacks from the enemy and launching blindside attacks on them. This is probably a lot more engaging than in FFXIII where you mostly operate your attacks from a selection menu.
In FFXIII and most other FF games, your selection of party members usually increases in variety as the game progresses and more characters join. However in FFXV you don't get to select your party members or control who leaves or replaces them along the way. Noctis is the sole playable character throughout the main game, though you can control the other characters briefly when executing combo attacks with them mid-battle.
Another thing I look forward to in FF games are the summons. However unlike in FFXIII where you can summon astrals and control what attacks they execute whenever your ATB gauge is filled in the battle, the option of summoning is only given to you according to the system's timing which is very often near the end of the battle to deliver the finishing blow. And the scale of destruction dealt by the summons are just overwhelming, with the epic BGM to top it all off.
Plot
I would say the plot is passable, though I kinda expected a more liberating end after all the tragedy the characters, especially Noctis, has been through.
Things seem to go from bad to worse for Noctis, with his dad King Regis' death, his fiance Lunafreya's death and Ignis' permanent blindness sustained from a battle injury (somehow this got me the most).
He had to make painful decisions to abandon his friends in order to do what's necessary to save the world (a good thing they didn't die). He then fell into unconsciousness to power up for ten whole years before waking up considerably aged to fight the enemy again, and eventually sacrificed his own life at the end of it all in exchange for the power that enabled him to defeat the main antagonist and final boss, disintegrating into a million crystal shards. Talk about a beautiful dissatisfaction.
The end post-credits scene shows the world restored to light, and him and Lunafreya happily and lovingly together in what appears to be the afterlife, but even that wasn't cathartic enough for me.
Screenshot from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IJxnYiXDs2E
The general themes of intimate brotherhood, sacrifice for the greater good and growth through hardship does come through during the course of the game. However most of the events of the game don't leave much of a significant impression in my memory, unlike in FFXIII where I can still remember some events clearly. But I guess that's the result of pursuing a more non-linear gameplay.
While it is clear the game is centered on Noctis and his growth to fulfil his role as the next King, I think the stage can still be better shared with the other characters without stealing too much limelight from the main character. For example, I didn't really get to connect with or understand the appeal of Lunafreya's character well enough to make me feel grief over her death. I think that's why there's the FFXV movie Kingsglaive which depicts the events surrounding the death of King Regis paralleling the time of the start of the main game, and the five-episode anime series Brotherhood that gives more insight into the backgrounds of the Prompto, Gladiolus and Ignis to give more background to the main game.
I didn't see the need or significance for Noctis to go through a decade of sleep near the end of the game before coming back to save the day, since nothing seemed to change apart from his appearance. I do dig the older, more regal-looking Noctis better than his younger appearance that just looked so much like Sasuke from the anime Naruto. Only Noctis seemed to change the most over the decade, while the rest just grew more hair haha.
Screenshot from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IJxnYiXDs2E
The best part is really once again the bond shared among the four guys. You'll laugh along with them when they fool around and struggle with them when attrition occurs. Even the dialogue during the fight scenes subtly expressed the deep concern they have for one another. I struggled the most emotionally whenever it came to them.
Soundtrack
The soundtrack for FF games are always great, and so is the one for this game which is composed by Shimomura Yoko. I think soundtracks are a vital part of games since they set the mood especially during the battle scenes. The FFXIII soundtrack by Hamauzu Masashi was awesome (refer to an older post where I unboxed the CD pack) so I had high expectations for this one - and I wasn't disappointed. My personal favourites are Fight Fantastica which is one of the battle BGMs and Somnus which is played at the title screen before you start the game.
Overall SQUARE ENIX has really outdone themselves again with the wonderful design and graphics, especially the non-linear nature of most of the game. While I do feel a little unsettled with the plot progression, it was truly an impactful game with lots of detail which I truly appreciate.
I doubt there'll be sequels to FFXV like in FFXIII since it's already established that Noctis has passed into the afterlife with his own sacrifice, but we can't be sure, really. FFXIII-2 opened with a revelation that the happy end shown in FFXIII was only shortlived since the main character Lightning was suddenly swallowed into another dimension with most other people save for her younger sister Serah having no memories of her - which in my opinion was quite a poor progression from the main game to the next. And in the end, Serah the main character of FFXIII-2 herself dies in the game, which leads to the third and last instalment of the FFXIII trilogy. So who knows, the writers may come up with a way to reintroduce Noctis back again.
Anyway SQUARE ENIX did something really cool and cute by creating a mystery CD to celebrate the launch of Final Fantasy XV. Basically it resembles the main game where you get to run around and interact with in-game features, just that it breaks the fourth wall by decorating the universe with bright balloons and all for an eve party literally in celebration of the launch.
What's hilarious is that the CEO of SQUARE ENIX Matsuda Yousuke makes an appearance in game as a boss you have to defeat (they actually made a game character out of him oh gosh). When he did a laser beam attack, Noctis protested that it wasn't fair to which he replies "Because I'm the CEO."
I felt like I could finally breathe when the head invigilator's voice announcing the end of the exam was drowned out by the dragging of chairs and rising murmurs of students as they streamed out the doors of the examination hall. It was a torturous semester, and I'm just glad to be done and over with it.
I met up with Dawn after my paper yesterday to show her the way to the laptop repair store I recommended her and also just catch up a little over lunch at Soup Spoon. I'm reminded over and over again about how grateful I am to have Dawn as a really important and precious friend - even "best friend" doesn't seem to properly embody the regard I have for her. She's been experiencing some sort of "series of unfortunate events" in her life recently, so she was really vexed and frustrated - I believe :') is the best emoticon to describe her overall emotion now haha.
She'll be travelling to Japan for a family trip, and thereafter to Canada for four months on exchange. Even though we don't meet very frequently or talk regularly, I feel like I'm going to miss her tremendously when she goes to Canada and freeze to death in the climate there (LOL). We're probably gonna hang out some time next week I guess, before she goes.
I met up with another old friend yesterday too after seeing Dawn off at the station. Since Boston is currently staying at a camp in Yew Tee, we decided to meet up for dinner in the area! Which is great, because how often do you have friends who happen to be in an area as secluded as Yew Tee where I live (not very often, I can tell you that). I've been bumping into Bos coincidentally outside many times now but we've never actually had time to catch up with each other till yesterday.
From my interaction with Bos I must say I really respect him a lot more than I already do now. His responsibilities and duties are really heavy not just physically but emotionally as well. As he recounted some of the really interesting experiences he had in his work over dinner, I was just awestruck and almost reeling from some of the more graphic descriptions because I just couldn't imagine the things he's seen.
Overall I had a blast catching up with Bos, talking about old friends in VJGE, relatable experiences in stalking the social media of people (HAH) and other things. It'll be awesome to be able to kick back and reminisce the past with other people whom I've known before like this too :)
I'm a little unsure how this one month mid-year break is gonna turn out, but I do have some things I need to do and matters to clear up and sort out properly. I'm dreading the inevitable confrontations to come, but I've got to keep steady and move ahead firmly.
