Yup, so now I've reverted back to only ever blogging when I have a new cover/collab to show haha. It's kinda tough when I spend most of my time at work, but I don't want to reveal too many work-related things here... Ummmm, for a few weeks I basically spent most of my waking free time working on mixing—which resulted in one new upload, yay! I still have another in the pipeline that I had planned to finish before mixing for Ascension CB consumed my life, but I'm doubtful that it'll work out.
Recent exciting happenings are that I went to KCON LA! This year went pretty well. ^^ The concerts were a lot of fun and luckily a huge improvement from last year, when we were only able to get the shittiest seats because they cut like 40% of the seats AND they didn't provide screens that were visible from the sides of the stadium. Huge improvement this year with the return of the 360 stage and 360 large screens! I also went to more fan engagements (fanmeetings) than in past years, which meant a lot of waiting in line, but I got to see a lot of my faves up closer than I'd probably ever see most of them in a concert. And I attended LDN Noise's amazing panel where they discussed their music production and even opened up their project of an EXO song and broke all of those intricate layers down for us! Freaking awesome. That panel lit up some fuel in me that immediately got to work on Never as soon as I arrived home from LA, redid the mastering, re-imagined some effects, and even recorded some extra layers and subtle adlibs.
In the order of the artist I was most excited about, to the artist that I was least excited about but still impressed me, these are the gods and goddesses I had the privilege of witnessing in song and dance this year:
NCT 127, Wanna One,
WJSN/Cosmic Girls, Oh My Girl, Seventeen,
SF9, Super Junior-D&E, Girl's Day,
Heize, KARD, GOT7,
Astro, Vixx, Kim Taewoo
They were all incredible!
Chiisana and I totally lost our shit when Wanna One surprised us by performing Never ;;;;
WHICH LEADS ME TO OUR DUET OF "NEVER," originally from Produce 101 season 2 but also has been rerecorded by Wanna One! This song especially means a lot to me because it was composed and written by Hui of Pentagon, which is one of my current favorite groups but is sadly a group that's painfully underrated and overlooked. ;A; They're full of talent, but there's not enough recognition or interest.. I think Never was their first breakthrough—and it may be a bit sad that Pentagon didn't perform in their first song that charted #1—but it brought a lot to their name, so I'm grateful that Hui got this wondrous opportunity!! And then went on to compose/write for Wanna One's big debut song >u<!!!
So yeah, please enjoy! It may not be the most polished mix, but I spent a lot of time on this. ;v; And it's been a while since Evasana's last duet, so I'm happy this pulled through.
【Cover】 PRODUCE 101 - NEVER (네버) 【Eva x 小さな】
We would like to dedicate this Evasana duet to:
♥ Wanna One, whom we had the honor of seeing last weekend at KCON LA!! We freaked the heck out when they performed this song ;u;
♥ Kim Jonghyun, whom we for sure thought we would be seeing this year at KCON LA. #justiceforjonghyun
♥ The underrated boys of Pentagon! Get them royalties, Hui~
Song: “NEVER” originally performed by 국민의 아들 for PRODUCE 101 Season 2
Composed by: Hui of Pentagon, Flow Blow
Lyrics: Hui, E’dawn, & Wooseok of Pentagon
Arrangement: Flow Blow
MP3: https://app.box.com/s/r5ktaeiioqhyb15...
Vocals:
小さな (chiisana) - http://www.youtube.com/ChiisanaChanx3
Eva - http://www.youtube.com/waterpixieva
Backing Vocals:
小さな (chiisana)
Mix:
Eva
Video:
小さな (chiisana)
Unofficial instrumental from Everysing and provided by kyungsoᄉo.
Thank you for watching!
Knew Day / DOUKEI
Putting in this post in retrospect since I can't seem to find posts where I linked them before:
Daydream Delinquents' R2 and R3 entries for Serendipity Chorus Battle 2~
I love these videos <3
= Credits =
■ Original: Knew Day by (k)now_name http://knowname.jp/
■ Vocals ■
Caspy (Ranger Red) https://www.youtube.com/user/DuranCloud
Hoon (Ranger Black) (https://twitter.com/hoonieeeee
Kanono (Ranger Yellow) https://www.youtube.com/c/kanonopuddle
Chiika (Ranger Pink) https://www.youtube.com/user/SymphonicTears
Eva (Ranger Green) https://www.youtube.com/user/waterpixieva
Kurin (Ranger Blue) https://www.youtube.com/user/xCleanlyKurin
■ Mix ■
Kanono
Tuning: Eva
■ Art ■
Shippa (poses) -no link requested-
xiao (sketch + lineart) https://twitter.com/xiaociiao
Chiika (color)
■ Animation ■
Shippa
~~~
Credits:
■ Vocals ■
Caspy https://www.youtube.com/user/DuranCloud
Hoon https://twitter.com/hoonieeeee
Kanono https://www.youtube.com/c/kanonopuddle
Chiika https://www.youtube.com/user/SymphonicTears
Eva https://www.youtube.com/user/waterpixieva
Kurin https://www.youtube.com/user/xCleanlyKurin
■ Arrange■
Kanono
■ Mix ■
Kanono
■ Art ■
xiao (sketch + lineart) https://twitter.com/xiaociiao
Chiika (color)
■ Animation ■
Shippa
Original
「憧憬～DOUKEI～｜BACK-ON」
Words：BACK-ON
Music：BACK-ON
Arrangement：BACK-ON
Movie：qomunelab co.,ltd.
Vocaloid Programming：out of survice
Vocal：IA ROCKS
Rap：TEEDA（BACK-ON）
Mikumo (Macross Delta) Cosplay @ AX2016
SO...... last year I started this post in an effort to update my blog more often and be transparent about my cosplay-making process—but of course I ditched, totally forgot about, and then procrastinated on it for a year. :'DDDDDDDD
Now to bring you the very unexciting conclusion to my Mikumo Guynemer (Macross Delta / "Bokura no Senjou" and "Fukakuteisei COSMIC MOVEMENT" outfit) cosplay journey.
The total of my spending from my progress post, including the wig, was $63.31... Crud, that's more than I hoped. D: And now that I've bought my own pair of boots (I'd borrowed Sophie's before but I plan to wear mine casually too), my total spending is $93.30. orzzzz
And then there's all the time and laborious nights I spent... I even worked out because I wanted flat abs.......
My cosplay turned out okay'ish though I think! It debuted at last year's Anime Expo and in most pictures, you can't tell what a ragtag bullshit mess sewing job I did!!!
Some WIP pics again:
And now I'm going to interrupt my own post here with a vlog break. Please enjoy "How [not] To Make Cosplay with Eva" presented by me. (It's extremely unhelpful and I'm a shit role model sorry—)
Anyway, here is how the cosplay turned out! Kudos to Myst and Himuro for helping me finish it on the rough final night when I couldn't stay awake, to Sophie for lending me boots, and to Fome for lending me his microphone and taking all the non-selfie pictures ^^
Now to bring you the very unexciting conclusion to my Mikumo Guynemer (Macross Delta / "Bokura no Senjou" and "Fukakuteisei COSMIC MOVEMENT" outfit) cosplay journey.
The total of my spending from my progress post, including the wig, was $63.31... Crud, that's more than I hoped. D: And now that I've bought my own pair of boots (I'd borrowed Sophie's before but I plan to wear mine casually too), my total spending is $93.30. orzzzz
And then there's all the time and laborious nights I spent... I even worked out because I wanted flat abs.......
My cosplay turned out okay'ish though I think! It debuted at last year's Anime Expo and in most pictures, you can't tell what a ragtag bullshit mess sewing job I did!!!
Some WIP pics again:
And now I'm going to interrupt my own post here with a vlog break. Please enjoy "How [not] To Make Cosplay with Eva" presented by me. (It's extremely unhelpful and I'm a shit role model sorry—)
Anyway, here is how the cosplay turned out! Kudos to Myst and Himuro for helping me finish it on the rough final night when I couldn't stay awake, to Sophie for lending me boots, and to Fome for lending me his microphone and taking all the non-selfie pictures ^^
24~
I totally forgot to do my annual Birthday Girl shirt mirror selfie this year LOL! I turned 24 earlier in May! This year, I thought it made sense that I became a year older—although the age 24 doesn't resonate with me yet. Since middle school, I've felt that I developed about 2 years behind my peers, but now maybe it's 1 year? :'D
A shame that I dyed my hair pink right after last year's birthday selfie, so now that it's appearing for the first time, there's not too much left of it haha.
This is my 10th year taking a birthday selfie!!!! I was 15 the first time!!
Palette
Tuesday, May 23, 2017
0 comments Labels: art/crafts, gross fangirlling, rambling but with slightly more thought, songs
Mimi gave me watercolor pencils for my birthday so I've been giving that a try even though I totally lack artistic and aesthetic skill haha. It's been a nice thing to do as I'm trying to rest when I'm not working.
Last Friday, I got back from a weeklong business trip to LA where I worked on videos that were shown before audiences of 2000+ people. ;u; That's huge—and so was the screen it played on... All of the footage was shot in 4K in order to be big enough. I was the on-site producer/sometimes camera op/sometimes director for a video that included high school finalists from the 78 countries that made it to the top of a science competition, which meant long days spent standing but it was fun and rewarding! Afterwards, I edited the video shown during the closing ceremony that summed up the kids' week and their awesome experience and achievements. ^^
The reward and being proud of the students aside, it was really exhausting. I still hadn't recovered from being previously tired, so I was in poor condition to work a taxing, stressful, little-sleep, nonstop week. ;; It was probably the physically and mentally crappiest I've felt in...I can't remember. Unfortunately I have a lot of work left these next two weeks, so I can't take a vacation, but I'm trying to rest when I'm off work at least.
This is my first piece (through which I found out I have no idea how watercolor works lolol) and kindergarten-doodle-lookin' practice from Saturday..
Today, I tried to draw a palette.
I've been obsessed with IU's new song "Palette" ;v; It's a song about being 25, but that's Korean age so even though I consider myself 24, I'm technically the same age as IU! There's something mystical about her music where it feels relatable even though you can't actually relate.
Yesterday, I watched IU's LieV, which is a live broadcast that airs Sunday nights in Korea designed to help one sleep in peace despite Monday blues. A celebrity (or multiple, but the effect is very different) carries out the show lying down on a bed, and they talk comfortably for an hour about whatever they want, while reading comments from fans. I love love love this concept! Certain ones I listen to regularly to fall asleep. ^^
IU's shed a lot of light on me as to what kind of person and musician she is, and I've so much newfound respect and love for her. <3 It's no wonder everybody admires her~ I could go on and on now about how pretty it is that she loves her music and is passionate about making music and writing lyrics that tell a story, and how down to earth she is especially considering her fame, and how awesomely candid she's become, and how thoughtful and talented and—oops I'm going on and on. She's amazing and there's much to be learned from/about her.
In her LieV, she discusses inspirations for her songwriting, especially for Palette. One of the things she did during her hiatus was take art lessons, although she claims to be bad at drawing haha. She said that rather than the painting, she had more interest in the paint palette—which one can think of as just a tool to make art, but she thinks that it can be considered artwork itself, with its variously pretty colors and endless possibilities.
She then relates the palette to herself and says, "Rather than painting each and every color to show you, I wanted to show you the palette that I am," which I thought was fascinating but didn't really understand. *^* I'm still trying to digest it, but right now this is my guess... I think one way she meant that was to say that while her songs are great and her repertoire has some diverse colors/genres, she wants to show that she—the songwriter behind the songs—is the true work of art. I think she wants people to understand her identity stripped of the veil the stardom, and the complexity of the work she puts into her music, how all those contrasting images are all a part of her, and how she's got endless possibilities.
Now I'm just geeking because nobody's stopping me from typing sorry!!! But she's so cool!! The song "Palette" is interesting because it's so IU-identity-centric and personal... It's brave and thoughtful. G-Dragon's rap part is a message to IU talking about how she's at the age where she's shining, how it's tough being not quite a child or an adult, and persuades her that she's beautiful and blooming. In the live performances, she does the rap herself while replacing some of the lyrics, but still addresses herself with a message. This song is really all about giving the audience a window into what she's like, her thoughts, her interests, how she's changed in the past few years, how she's accepted that people will hate or love her, how she feels like she's growing into her own skin. Ugh!!! How cool is she!!
In All Honesty
[ trigger warning: mention of suicidal ideology ]
...not to say that I'd ever shut it down, but I'm not sure what to do with my blog anymore. At a fairly often rate, I tell myself, "I should update my blog more!" but rarely anymore does anything strike me with, "I should blog about that!"
For most of my very long blogging career, I haven't really paid attention to or cared about who reads my blog or how many people follow my blog. I decided long ago that I blog for myself—to capture and chronicle me in moments in my life that I can look back upon, and as an expressive outlet—and it's a nice bonus to get to share it with anyone who might be interested in reading. But now that I don't even feel inspired to write... there rarely are moments that I wish to capture here anymore, and no longer as many thoughts that I'd like to share... it's sad. Since I don't feel motivated to blog for me, nor do I feel the need to blog for anybody else (not that I think anybody comes here anymore—and I wouldn't blame 'em), I end up not blogging. Which I think is not being true to myself.
Mmmm.....I wasn't sure if my recent thoughts should be shared, but here goes........ I'm hesitating. I'd paused and wondered if I should backspace, because being this truthful is pretty scary. The more "IRL" people find my online identity, the more I pressured I feel to hide. I wonder if I should stop talking about people and things around me—especially my job—even though they're part of my life chronicle. I don't want to show too many of my vulnerabilities that I was willing to be more transparent about back when I felt some sense of anonymity. Am I irresponsible when I reveal too much and will it make people think that perhaps I'm not the person they thought I was? It's scary. Please don't judge me for this!
I DID NOT DO THIS ON PURPOSE
YOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
HOW DID THIS HAPPEN
(of course, now with this post, i've ruined the balance)
HOW DID THIS HAPPEN
(of course, now with this post, i've ruined the balance)
Wimp / to the beginning
(There was no clever way to combine the two song titles...)
Man I suck at keeping my blog up to date haha. In the online covering sphere of things, I've been in two chorus battles but haven't been working so much on other projects recently.
I'm singing in Serendipity Chorus Battle in the group Daydream Delinquents and we did a fun rockin', rappin' BACK-ON song for round 1. :D I wasn't planning to join this CB, but it sounded like a nice opportunity to finally get to work with Chiika and Caspy who are old friends—and all of our other members turned out to be cool people too!
【Daydream Delinquents】 Wimp【SCB2-R1】
■ Vocals ■
Caspy https://www.youtube.com/user/DuranCloud
Hoon https://twitter.com/hoonieeeee
Kanono https://www.youtube.com/c/kanonopuddle
Chiika https://www.youtube.com/user/Symphoni...
Eva https://www.youtube.com/user/waterpix...
Kurin https://www.youtube.com/user/xCleanly...
■ Mix ■
Kanono
■ Art ■
Shippa (sketch) -no link requested-
xiao (lineart) https://twitter.com/xiaociiao
Chiika (color)
■ Animation ■
Shippa
And of course... OTO&ME CB came to a close a few days ago. I'm incredibly proud of having been one of the Revolutionary Girls Q_Q It was a great experience that I learned a lot from singing- and mixing-wise, and our entries are gorgeous in every way. This was the first CB I participated in that wasn't with my Gemini fam (we did DUBattle Royale 2011 and LSO 2016 together) so now that it's come to a close and the group probably won't be singing together anymore, I'm feeling a little regretful but ultimately honored.
【音&ME’16R3】to the beginning『Revolutionary Girls』
❤️️👭❤️️ Mix:
Eva (time)
https://www.youtube.com/user/waterpix...
Fome (tune)
https://www.youtube.com/user/fome
crashtest (main mix)
https://www.youtube.com/user/redshift...
heartbreakerP (master)
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCo6J...
❤️️👭❤️️ Animation:
saint * ル季 (https://www.youtube.com/user/xKouchan)
Kuroko (https://www.youtube.com/user/backstag...)
❤️️👭❤️️ Art:
minty⁺ (http://twitter.com/furisou)
capu (https://www.twitter.com/capuworks)
tai (http://www.twitter.com/taiyouka_)
❤️️👭❤️️ Script: saint ♔
❤️️👭❤️️ vocalists //
saint ♔
https://www.youtube.com/user/xKouchan
minty⁺
https://www.youtube.com/user/furisou
mong
https://www.youtube.com/user/vamong
小さな
https://www.youtube.com/user/chiisana...
Eva
https://www.youtube.com/user/waterpix...
Tsubame
https://www.youtube.com/c/TsubameAka
きむにゅ
https://www.youtube.com/user/azunyanHTT
❤️️👭❤️️ violin // Jobo (https://www.twitter.com/jobofish)
Man I suck at keeping my blog up to date haha. In the online covering sphere of things, I've been in two chorus battles but haven't been working so much on other projects recently.
I'm singing in Serendipity Chorus Battle in the group Daydream Delinquents and we did a fun rockin', rappin' BACK-ON song for round 1. :D I wasn't planning to join this CB, but it sounded like a nice opportunity to finally get to work with Chiika and Caspy who are old friends—and all of our other members turned out to be cool people too!
【Daydream Delinquents】 Wimp【SCB2-R1】
■ Vocals ■
Caspy https://www.youtube.com/user/DuranCloud
Hoon https://twitter.com/hoonieeeee
Kanono https://www.youtube.com/c/kanonopuddle
Chiika https://www.youtube.com/user/Symphoni...
Eva https://www.youtube.com/user/waterpix...
Kurin https://www.youtube.com/user/xCleanly...
■ Mix ■
Kanono
■ Art ■
Shippa (sketch) -no link requested-
xiao (lineart) https://twitter.com/xiaociiao
Chiika (color)
■ Animation ■
Shippa
And of course... OTO&ME CB came to a close a few days ago. I'm incredibly proud of having been one of the Revolutionary Girls Q_Q It was a great experience that I learned a lot from singing- and mixing-wise, and our entries are gorgeous in every way. This was the first CB I participated in that wasn't with my Gemini fam (we did DUBattle Royale 2011 and LSO 2016 together) so now that it's come to a close and the group probably won't be singing together anymore, I'm feeling a little regretful but ultimately honored.
【音&ME’16R3】to the beginning『Revolutionary Girls』
❤️️👭❤️️ Mix:
Eva (time)
https://www.youtube.com/user/waterpix...
Fome (tune)
https://www.youtube.com/user/fome
crashtest (main mix)
https://www.youtube.com/user/redshift...
heartbreakerP (master)
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCo6J...
❤️️👭❤️️ Animation:
saint * ル季 (https://www.youtube.com/user/xKouchan)
Kuroko (https://www.youtube.com/user/backstag...)
❤️️👭❤️️ Art:
minty⁺ (http://twitter.com/furisou)
capu (https://www.twitter.com/capuworks)
tai (http://www.twitter.com/taiyouka_)
❤️️👭❤️️ Script: saint ♔
❤️️👭❤️️ vocalists //
saint ♔
https://www.youtube.com/user/xKouchan
minty⁺
https://www.youtube.com/user/furisou
mong
https://www.youtube.com/user/vamong
小さな
https://www.youtube.com/user/chiisana...
Eva
https://www.youtube.com/user/waterpix...
Tsubame
https://www.youtube.com/c/TsubameAka
きむにゅ
https://www.youtube.com/user/azunyanHTT
❤️️👭❤️️ violin // Jobo (https://www.twitter.com/jobofish)
Onegai
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rambling
This is a very trivial post and it contains spoilers(?) for Sword Art Online season one LOL.
My tearducts are tired
I always mean to blog, but I don't know where to start. I keep feeling that I need a complete topic to discuss when I write, but right now I'm just going to jot down whatever comes to mind. Currently, I'm on a plane returning from a business trip and typing slowly..slowly...typo-riddenly...on my phone.
About two weeks ago, my grandpa passed away. I've fond memories of watching teletubbies with him, but we don't have many memories after he moved to a city 45 minutes away when I was in first grade. After I hit puberty, he stopped being able to recognize me—always thought I was my aunt—and with me becoming unconfident in my Chinese and him being hard of hearing, we never really bonded again. We weren't close enough that I truly miss his presence, but I hate that my family permanently lost such a big part of their lives... that my cute, nonchalant grandpa is really just gone forever. They loved him a lot and always took time to visit him despite the somewhat inconvenient distance. We weren't close and yet, I was so depressed and so emotional—but because of these other things that were related. I don't really want to talk about all of them, but I'll kind of talk about one.
My mom was being optimistic, I believe at least, when she said that grandpa seemed to have been bored for a while. Apparently, he'd been saying in his cute, nonchalant way, "Can't die yet, can't die yet..." (literal translation from Chinese), which actually carries the meaning of "Why can I not die yet, why can I not die yet..." Probably nobody thought too much of it since the tone of what he said is not so serious-sounding. I feel so terrible that he felt that way.
The day after, work colleagues started talking about their grandparents too. One had a grandfather whom everyone expected to leave not long after his wife did—they spent so much of their lives together—but to everyone's surprise, he went on to live another 16 years beyond her. He rebuilt his life without her; he took on new hobbies and activities. And he just found the purpose and love of life to keep living on each and every day. That's incredible.
Most people are afraid of death, and afraid of old age because it means looming death. I've always been really afraid of old age; I just hate knowing that one day, my body and mind are surely to fail me even more and that I'll have to rely on people just for basic everyday functions. I don't ever want to feel obsolete—that makes me insecure all the time.
But now I've realized that I'm also afraid of old age not because I'm afraid of no longer living—I'm afraid of living without purpose. Already at this age, I have days when I don't see a point in getting out of bed because I don't feel motivated...to exist. When I'm not sure that things are worth the effort, and I don't know that I have any real purpose, and I don't look forward to anything, and I don't feel like I'm having fun, and most things feel meaningless. That's frightening, because I can only imagine that this feeling will only grow more and more as I age, until one day it can consume me everyday. Then I'll say, "Why can I not die yet, why can I not die yet..." Anyway, that's that. I'm better now but that week, thinking about these things and my ineptness at living was depressing 8'D
So my business trip was to Washington DC to do on-site video editing for finalist week of a prestigious science competition for high schoolers. Similar to the middle school version I did in October. It was...pretty cray cray... We shot 42 interviews (22 of them I helped do audio recording on since there was nothing to edit yet) which I had to cut into a cohesive 5 minute video that tells the kids' story of this competition and what it means to them and how their projects will change the world. And then our crew would shoot all their activities throughout the days and once I got the footage each night, I had to sort through all of it and drop shots into the video... All of this was done in just a few days and the video had to be ready to be shown at the gala on the last day. I would send a draft to the client by 10 PM to review and then had to implement the changes by 10 AM.
These kids are incredibly amazing in every way. So much so that the grand prize winner took home $250,000. It was stressful and a huge mental struggle (editing is very much like putting together a puzzle), I was working up til 5-6 AM each night, got several bouts of both bloody noses and minor food poisoning; but ultimately I think being able to make these videos is one of my favorite parts of my job.
I love love love that I have the privilege of making something to honor these amazing, genius, righteous, hardworking kids that I hope will make them feel good about themselves and that will preserve their memories of the fun week that they had with the other finalists. I want them to treasure this video for the rest of their lives. I love that I get to try to tell their story—and I really do try with all my heart, which is why it's so hard deciding on the one thing that each student gets to say in the video. I want the world to realize how wonderful they are. Hopefully, other kids will watch these videos, learn about these opportunities, and be inspired to pursue science too. When I do these kinds of projects, I do feel that I've some purpose in the world, even though I end up feeling a bit like a ghost that vicariously experiences the kids' fun and bonding sadly without actually getting to spend any time with them, boooo. It was difficult, but in the end, I feel good about this trip.
Initially, I had planned to stay an extra day in DC afterwards to check out the city and fly back on the 16th.... When my grandpa's funeral was decided to be on the 16th (I was so scared it'd happen during my trip), I changed my flight to come back on the 15th (today) instead.
Last night, I was up until 3 AM because of picking up the gala footage and transferring it... I was supposed to wake up at 5:30 AM. I overslept and missed my flight... I don't know if it's my phone's fault, or if I really slept through 4 rounds of alarms even though I woke up to my coworker's call... but I was so so so upset, stressed out, and angry.......... This is a huge mistake I'm deeply embarrassed about. So I made a call to the airline and LUCKILY was able to reschedule for another flight on the same day although it's costly. ;; I cried through the entire call because I was so afraid that I would miss my grandpa's funeral.
My grandpa was apparently just fine, then suddenly hospitalized, and he passed away 3 days later. Unfortunately, since it happened so quickly and unpredictably, I didn't have a chance to visit him. Can you imagine...if even after I changed my flight once already, I still missed the chance to see him and say goodbye one last time? I wouldn't be able to live with myself; I'd regret it and be haunted by it forever... >< That was fucking stressful. I'm still upset that this happened and that I may have almost missed the funeral. I cried a lot at the airport. Honestly, this I'm not entirely recovered from yet and I'm sure tomorrow's funeral is going to break me even further. I'm thankful that I will make it there, but I don't look forward to it.
So my business trip was to Washington DC to do on-site video editing for finalist week of a prestigious science competition for high schoolers. Similar to the middle school version I did in October. It was...pretty cray cray... We shot 42 interviews (22 of them I helped do audio recording on since there was nothing to edit yet) which I had to cut into a cohesive 5 minute video that tells the kids' story of this competition and what it means to them and how their projects will change the world. And then our crew would shoot all their activities throughout the days and once I got the footage each night, I had to sort through all of it and drop shots into the video... All of this was done in just a few days and the video had to be ready to be shown at the gala on the last day. I would send a draft to the client by 10 PM to review and then had to implement the changes by 10 AM.
These kids are incredibly amazing in every way. So much so that the grand prize winner took home $250,000. It was stressful and a huge mental struggle (editing is very much like putting together a puzzle), I was working up til 5-6 AM each night, got several bouts of both bloody noses and minor food poisoning; but ultimately I think being able to make these videos is one of my favorite parts of my job.
I love love love that I have the privilege of making something to honor these amazing, genius, righteous, hardworking kids that I hope will make them feel good about themselves and that will preserve their memories of the fun week that they had with the other finalists. I want them to treasure this video for the rest of their lives. I love that I get to try to tell their story—and I really do try with all my heart, which is why it's so hard deciding on the one thing that each student gets to say in the video. I want the world to realize how wonderful they are. Hopefully, other kids will watch these videos, learn about these opportunities, and be inspired to pursue science too. When I do these kinds of projects, I do feel that I've some purpose in the world, even though I end up feeling a bit like a ghost that vicariously experiences the kids' fun and bonding sadly without actually getting to spend any time with them, boooo. It was difficult, but in the end, I feel good about this trip.
Initially, I had planned to stay an extra day in DC afterwards to check out the city and fly back on the 16th.... When my grandpa's funeral was decided to be on the 16th (I was so scared it'd happen during my trip), I changed my flight to come back on the 15th (today) instead.
Last night, I was up until 3 AM because of picking up the gala footage and transferring it... I was supposed to wake up at 5:30 AM. I overslept and missed my flight... I don't know if it's my phone's fault, or if I really slept through 4 rounds of alarms even though I woke up to my coworker's call... but I was so so so upset, stressed out, and angry.......... This is a huge mistake I'm deeply embarrassed about. So I made a call to the airline and LUCKILY was able to reschedule for another flight on the same day although it's costly. ;; I cried through the entire call because I was so afraid that I would miss my grandpa's funeral.
My grandpa was apparently just fine, then suddenly hospitalized, and he passed away 3 days later. Unfortunately, since it happened so quickly and unpredictably, I didn't have a chance to visit him. Can you imagine...if even after I changed my flight once already, I still missed the chance to see him and say goodbye one last time? I wouldn't be able to live with myself; I'd regret it and be haunted by it forever... >< That was fucking stressful. I'm still upset that this happened and that I may have almost missed the funeral. I cried a lot at the airport. Honestly, this I'm not entirely recovered from yet and I'm sure tomorrow's funeral is going to break me even further. I'm thankful that I will make it there, but I don't look forward to it.
B1A4 Concert!!
(Not so much a fan account, but more about my personal experience!)
Yesterday was B1A4's concert was in San Francisco ^o^ Myst and I both went as VIP so got to be in the front pit and participate in the hi touch (high five) event!!!
Honestly, I think the concert was the most unreserved fun I've had in a long time. Which is both a testament to how great of a concert it was and how little fun I have in my life.
The boys put on impressive performances, delivering solid dancing and singing (esp Sandeul belting my god!!!!) with incredible endurance. ;u; They were visibly tired but kept going and delivering and were full of energy til the end! But I think what was really special was that they put a lot of care into making sure that the audience had a fun, engaged experience. We weren't just watching them perform; we were constantly interacting and encouraged to respond. For most of the concert, it was a lot of asking us to sing along, scream, put our hands up, wave and pump our arms, jump while they were performing.
Then what confused me was when we got to a song that didn't include much of them singing or dancing? It was.....intense clubby music? The boys were all jumping and hyping us up, and we were all jumping too, AND THEN THEY STARTED EMPTYING THEIR WATER BOTTLES....ONTO THE AUDIENCE. Water! spraying! everywhere!!! It felt like a rave?! (We found out afterwards that it was a song remixed by Jinyoung LOLLLLL)
At that point, it was no longer just a B1A4 performance—it was B1A4 members constructing an environment in which we fans could let loose and have a good time! I really think that they didn't want any of us to just stand or sit idly, didn't want us to just be absorbed in taking pics/videos on our phones, didn't want us to just be observers. I appreciated that a lot ^^
I don't really ever get (or pursue) opportunities to just let go and let my body move and just have unreserved fun... I refuse to dance because I'm bad at it and I don't like how my awkward body looks when moving around, and I just get consumed by self-consciousness and the judging eyes of other people. The dance floor is place of anxiety for my party-poopin' ass.
But at the concert, I felt...safe? An unfamiliar feeling of few inhibitions and not needing to care about what I looked like or what anyone thought of me. All I had to do was jump and wave my arms, all I had to respond to was the beat of the music, and the entire audience was in it together to show our support for B1A4 who wanted to give back to us ;A; It was a great stress relief HAHA.
During their encore, they came out with crates of water bottles and WENT HAM. "San Francisco, are you tired?!?! Are you ready to shower?????!!?!?!!" were the words they'd fill the room with before repeating the chorus of Good Timing over.. and over.. and over.. and DRENCHING us with water and love LOL. Objectively, I know they went overboard and probably shouldn't have, but... I ultimately didn't have any problem with it and just enjoyed it. ;v;! At first, I did my best to avoid the water because of protective reflex—I'd flinch and duck, cover my face, and clean off my glasses as soon as I could. But then I zoned out for a moment and thought about it......... and concluded that I didn't have any reason to avoid the water? Unlike many fans in the front, I didn't have my phone out trying to get recordings. I didn't have a face full of make-up to worry about. My hair doesn't get frizzy. All of my belongings were covered because I was expecting rain. I wasn't sick, wasn't feeling cold. Why be afraid?
So from then on, I kept my head up and just smiled and laughed like what B1A4 would probably have wanted to see from us. Was so soaked!!! It's such a small change, but I was very happy and proud that I chose to let go and embrace the fun, messy, in-the-moment thing, instead of clinging to the pragmatic route as I always do. In the end, I had no personal qualms about the downpour and surprised myself by how much I enjoyed it. ;U;
Oh and they just absolutely spoil us with fanservice. <3 It warms my heart remembering all of their sincere gestures, and how they were constantly waving to fans all over the venue, giving us endless finger hearts, making eye contact if possible (I swear I made eye contact with CNU for a moment), posing with fans' banners and headbands, reminding us that we were loved and appreciated. This is the kind of memory that's going to make me smile each time it crosses my mind.
Here's B1A4's newest song, A Lie, composed by leader and my bias Jinyoung~ On first listen, I was rather lukewarm, but it consistently grew on me and now I'M SO EMOTIONAL OVER THIS SONG. (If you're new to their music, their songs tend to land on very opposite sides of the melancholic-silly spectrum haha. Solo Day is a jam!)
A post unrelated to valentines
Heyyo, feels like I haven't been here in a while. Life's been more on the ordinary side after the cray cray from the past two months—which is great because I needed to wind down but also leaves me without much to blog about even though I have the time to HAHA!
For the first time in a while, I've had time to watch shows and dramas again *A* I'm on episode 10 of 14 of the drama Goblin—which I would def recommend for its unexpectedly hilarious dry humor and not so much its slow, strange love story. Also watched Law of the Jungle for the first time and just finished the recent season/special (eps 247 - 251) with WJSN's Cheng Xiao, BTS' Jin, actor Gong Myung, and other celebs that must survive with little resources on uninhabited islands; and at one point, even a floating wooden structure in the middle of the ocean. I enjoyed the watch ;v; perhaps because I already was fond of some of the cast, but they all had a cute dynamic as a family. A clueless, oftentimes cowardly, but sweet and fun family. Just a warning though: this show made me crave seafood so badly that I couldn't go on without satisfying it, and even convinced me that scuba diving in coral reefs looks fun LOL.
Also work became much more lax (thank god) and after a couple more bumpy days following the trip, it's now going smoothly and pretty chill.
I've been killing two birds with one stone lately by practicing with After Effects! Currently, I work as mostly a video editor, but my job has been encouraging me to learn motion graphics and we all got paid membership on a training/tutorial site. Sooooo, time spent watching tutorials and practicing with the program can be considered as time spent for work and beneficial for developing my professional skills as a post-production asset for my company 8'D............
And what better way to practice animating than to animate a video for a singing collab that I'm organizing, right? I used to make videos for Gemini using Sony Vegas before I "quit" "animating," so this'll be my first youtube video using AE!! It's pretty noob and I have a terrible sense of aesthetic, but I hope it'll be okay. O^O I'm mixing too, and it's k-pop so that'll be fun.
Speaking of mixing, I forgot to post Revolutionary Girls' round 2 OCB entry... Rather than being the main mixer like in round 1, we shifted roles and now I'm doing timing only. As always, I love this team and our entry turned out awesome~
【音&ME’16R2】 Brand-new World 『Revolutionary Girls』
🌏✨Mix:
Eva (time)
https://www.youtube.com/user/waterpix...
Fome (tune)
https://www.youtube.com/user/fome
crashtest (main mix)
https://www.youtube.com/user/redshift...
heartbreakerP (master)
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCo6J...
🌏✨Animation: saint * ル季 (https://www.youtube.com/user/xKouchan)
🌏✨Art:
minty⁺ (http://twitter.com/furisou)
capu (https://www.twitter.com/capuworks)
tai (http://www.twitter.com/taiyouka_)
🌏✨Script: saint ♔
🌏✨ vocalists //
saint ♔
https://www.youtube.com/user/xKouchan
minty⁺
https://www.youtube.com/user/furisou
mong
https://www.youtube.com/user/vamong
小さな
https://www.youtube.com/user/chiisana...
Eva
https://www.youtube.com/user/waterpix...
Tsubame
https://www.youtube.com/c/TsubameAka
きむにゅ
https://www.youtube.com/user/azunyanHTT
For the first time in a while, I've had time to watch shows and dramas again *A* I'm on episode 10 of 14 of the drama Goblin—which I would def recommend for its unexpectedly hilarious dry humor and not so much its slow, strange love story. Also watched Law of the Jungle for the first time and just finished the recent season/special (eps 247 - 251) with WJSN's Cheng Xiao, BTS' Jin, actor Gong Myung, and other celebs that must survive with little resources on uninhabited islands; and at one point, even a floating wooden structure in the middle of the ocean. I enjoyed the watch ;v; perhaps because I already was fond of some of the cast, but they all had a cute dynamic as a family. A clueless, oftentimes cowardly, but sweet and fun family. Just a warning though: this show made me crave seafood so badly that I couldn't go on without satisfying it, and even convinced me that scuba diving in coral reefs looks fun LOL.
Also work became much more lax (thank god) and after a couple more bumpy days following the trip, it's now going smoothly and pretty chill.
I've been killing two birds with one stone lately by practicing with After Effects! Currently, I work as mostly a video editor, but my job has been encouraging me to learn motion graphics and we all got paid membership on a training/tutorial site. Sooooo, time spent watching tutorials and practicing with the program can be considered as time spent for work and beneficial for developing my professional skills as a post-production asset for my company 8'D............
And what better way to practice animating than to animate a video for a singing collab that I'm organizing, right? I used to make videos for Gemini using Sony Vegas before I "quit" "animating," so this'll be my first youtube video using AE!! It's pretty noob and I have a terrible sense of aesthetic, but I hope it'll be okay. O^O I'm mixing too, and it's k-pop so that'll be fun.
Speaking of mixing, I forgot to post Revolutionary Girls' round 2 OCB entry... Rather than being the main mixer like in round 1, we shifted roles and now I'm doing timing only. As always, I love this team and our entry turned out awesome~
【音&ME’16R2】 Brand-new World 『Revolutionary Girls』
🌏✨Mix:
Eva (time)
https://www.youtube.com/user/waterpix...
Fome (tune)
https://www.youtube.com/user/fome
crashtest (main mix)
https://www.youtube.com/user/redshift...
heartbreakerP (master)
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCo6J...
🌏✨Animation: saint * ル季 (https://www.youtube.com/user/xKouchan)
🌏✨Art:
minty⁺ (http://twitter.com/furisou)
capu (https://www.twitter.com/capuworks)
tai (http://www.twitter.com/taiyouka_)
🌏✨Script: saint ♔
🌏✨ vocalists //
saint ♔
https://www.youtube.com/user/xKouchan
minty⁺
https://www.youtube.com/user/furisou
mong
https://www.youtube.com/user/vamong
小さな
https://www.youtube.com/user/chiisana...
Eva
https://www.youtube.com/user/waterpix...
Tsubame
https://www.youtube.com/c/TsubameAka
きむにゅ
https://www.youtube.com/user/azunyanHTT
MARSHMALLOWS
Oh my god, I barely survived that last business trip. I hadn't fully recovered from that really horrible project I was on for weeks that was stress and constantly working overtime and even working some weekends (on New Year's) when I transitioned to working to get everything done in time for us to leave to the conference. And then the conference itself was stressful and......I think probably the most physically tired I've ever been in my life. After my coworker's medical emergency that I mentioned in my last post, she spent the following day resting in her hotel room while I covered all of the errands. And by the end of the day, my calves were so sick of functioning that I was limping???? I don't know if I've ever felt so sore before in my life. And the day after, I had to get up 2 hours earlier than I was supposed to, because of crazy last minute requests and my coworkers weren't awake yet o<-<
Anyway, I got home yesterday at 3:30 PM, went straight to bed, and slept from 5:30 PM until 9:30 AM HAHAHAHA. Today was a great day!!!!
Speaking of great things, some Gemini members and Curry's friends sang a little adorable chorus for Curry's birthday! She was one of Gemini's lovely animators during LSO and overall a wonderful person<3 I'm never getting over this art HAHA.
Singers (in solo appearance):
Sandiru: https://www.youtube.com/user/sandrabbity
ライ-チャ laicha: https://www.youtube.com/user/laichachan
SaFLOWERku: https://www.youtube.com/user/SakuChannx3
OdinFEMALESIGN: https://www.youtube.com/user/G3NoNaka
Someguyidk
Eva: https://www.youtube.com/user/waterpixieva
Ryan: https://www.youtube.com/user/RyanEatPho
Mimi: https://www.youtube.com/mimimoiselle
Chiisana: https://www.youtube.com/user/Chiisana...
Art:
Odin
Azure: http://reachintothesky.tumblr.com
PV:
Odin
Mix:
suponjiii
Original Credits
Title: 青春は残酷じゃない / Seishun wa Zankoku ja nai
Original Singer: 花江 夏樹 / Hanae Natsuki
Anyway, I got home yesterday at 3:30 PM, went straight to bed, and slept from 5:30 PM until 9:30 AM HAHAHAHA. Today was a great day!!!!
Speaking of great things, some Gemini members and Curry's friends sang a little adorable chorus for Curry's birthday! She was one of Gemini's lovely animators during LSO and overall a wonderful person<3 I'm never getting over this art HAHA.
Singers (in solo appearance):
Sandiru: https://www.youtube.com/user/sandrabbity
ライ-チャ laicha: https://www.youtube.com/user/laichachan
SaFLOWERku: https://www.youtube.com/user/SakuChannx3
OdinFEMALESIGN: https://www.youtube.com/user/G3NoNaka
Someguyidk
Eva: https://www.youtube.com/user/waterpixieva
Ryan: https://www.youtube.com/user/RyanEatPho
Mimi: https://www.youtube.com/mimimoiselle
Chiisana: https://www.youtube.com/user/Chiisana...
Art:
Odin
Azure: http://reachintothesky.tumblr.com
PV:
Odin
Mix:
suponjiii
Original Credits
Title: 青春は残酷じゃない / Seishun wa Zankoku ja nai
Original Singer: 花江 夏樹 / Hanae Natsuki
Holy SHIT THE AMOUNT OF CRAY CRAY THAT HAPPENED TODAY. So I'm on a business trip right now as the assistant/runner for support staff that are producing presentations/keynotes at a conference. My coworker and I are sharing the responsibility of running around everywhere making footage and hard drive retrievals and deliveries, but we've also picked up a ton of other tasks like food deliveries and coordinating print outs and signs and just.. so many things. We were constantly running from end to end of the huge convention center, to separate hotels, all around downtown...
Today was just a lovely pattern of setback after setback, misunderstandings, nonresponsive people, tooooonssssssss of walking, SO many ridiculous last minute requests that should not be my job, something coming up every time I think I'm done with work, JUST. EVERYTHING GOING WRONG IF IT CAN. SCREAMS.
And the cherry on top.... I was about to leave the convention center today--it was kind of late so I was hoping the catch rhe tail end of crew dinner—when my boss asks if I'm still there and if I can go talk to the on-site medical office because....my coworker whom I've been running around with .. is having a medical emergency. And god I feel so bad for her. Our jobs have been tough the past two days. We spent the next 3 hours of our lives revolved around that medical office..... Of course, I was doing work the whole time because more stuff came up orz This is insanity.
2017 New Year's Resolutions
Another year, another 100 'resolutions' to forget about. Kidding—it's still nice to reflect and figure out things to be improved or completed, however long they take. :> It's something I've done every year since 2009! So here we go, the struggle to come up with 100 begins again.....
1. Be happier. :)
2. Be more aware of my health!
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