Thanks, God

I don't really feel happy today. Or, let me simply say that I'm quite unhappy today. There were a lot of depression and annoying things happened, that made me somewhat out of control. Not really out of control, but just going a bit crazy.

And God seemingly wanted to give me a test, or, yeah whatsoever-called endurance test. He wanted to know how strong I am, facing the obstacles in this life. What happened today are not very serious problem, but they came together, simultaneously. How could I take a breath for a while when I didn't even have time to think of what should I do. I would not mention all the craziness happened today one by one, but some of them are related to friendship matter and college life. Disappointment, betrayal, misunderstanding, they are some of things that have made me sad today. How I am (still) disappointed because of a friend who betrayed me, and someone who could not understand me. That's great! It really made my day.. Yes, made it become so hellish.

So I went home and took a deep breath, silently praying that everything would be okay soon. I don't know whether God would grant it sooner or later, but what I know is that I have prayed and I have to wait. God is always listening, right? Else, I think it would be harder for me if I keep thinking about things that have made me sad. Our happiness comes when we think about something that makes us happy, right? That's the power of suggestion. Yeah, it's somehow a miracle for me. So I tried to be happy in anyway this afternoon, until I felt my sadness gradually faded away. But it didn't fade at all...

My elder brother tweeted something, saying that he was in such a very bad mood. As his younger brother, I certainly can feel the sadness (and what happened today also helps me understand what sadness is like). I tried to contact him and as soon as he came home, I asked him what happened to him. He told me that something was wrong with his motorcycle while he was driving, and a failure caused by the chain of his motorcycle nearly involved him into an unexpected traffic accident. I was shocked and my brother told me the whole story. Honestly my eyes were so teary and I cried a drop of tears (but good he did not know about it). He said that today was his bad day, and I told him that I felt the same thing. But I cheered him up and said that there was still one more thing to be thankful for.

Yes, God saved my elder brother.

I thank God for saving him. Seriously, I could not imagine what would it be, if my brother involved in a traffic accident. Probably I would cry all night long, wishing that my brother would be okay. I'm not a person who can easily think positively, so you guys can imagine what would happen to me if my brother involved in that accident and had severe injuries. It is not an impossibility that I could go to the hospital, crying in front of his door when it's not the time to come in, asking God to let him live for us, or simply crying next to him, putting my head on his chest and begging him "Please don't go!". That's not an impossibility, but.. But God saved him. He's home now and he's safe now. I really thank God for it, and seriously, now my eyes are teary again (anyone would give me a pack of tissue, please?)

Yeah. Obstacles will always come to our life. But no matter how hard it is, there's always one thing that we can be thankful for. The existence of beloved ones, the happiness coming from unexpected things, and the miracles happening suddenly, those are things that we, sometimes, forget to be thankful for. So, I thank God for saving my elder brother. I thank God for, yes, for every miracles happened in my life.

DJMAX Technika: Pop Mixing 2

Well, it must have been quite a long time since the last time I wrote a post on my blog. I've been so busy these days, doing assignments and attending neverending-torturing classes. Yes, now I don't really have much time for myself. I spend most of my time doing my assignments and attending discussion with my friends. But I finally have Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, three days of free time, so I have to use the three days to relax, find a great hideaway from daily activities that are torturing me, both physically and mentally.

And back to the topic, I think I have once posted this kind of topic, right? I have posted DJMAX Technika: Pop Mixing 1 several weeks ago and I bet this post would be the sequel from the similar post I've made before. Still talking about DJMAX, now it's already the 18th Maxpoint Shop Update in my country and all the songs have appeared to be available but the difficulties. I'm not going to talk about the new levels available at the Maxpoint Shop since mostly the new levels appeared as the 18th Update are obviously difficult (Yes, it takes probably two to three months for me to conquer HD level of "Out of CTRL". In other words, I'm a slow-learner), but I want to share my song selections for Pop Mixing (which can also be used as your course for Crew Race). In this post, I will include my selections, not only based on the theme or genre of the songs but also the characteristic of the song patterns included in the course. Here are my song selections for Pop Mixing, including my level preferences:

• Midnight Rockstar

This course consists of slow-rock songs (or slow-to-medium beat songs) with the range of level 6 to 8. The selection of the songs is based on the theme, Midnight Rockstar, so that's why the tempo are mostly slow. The arrangement of each song is also somewhat simple; distortion or over-driven voice does not really predominate the arrangement. It's not really hard for me actually to find the right songs for this course, since my reference is song with slow to medium tempo. It's up to you on how you will arrange these songs to the stages, but here are the three songs selected by me:

1. Brand New Days (MX level 7)

2. Raise Me Up (MX level 8)

3. Become Myself  (HD level 6)

• Disco Strings

The selection is based on the music arrangement. I note that some songs are seemingly cool to be played at discotheques or at your house-party. One characteristic that I observe is the element of the music arrangement (these three songs have strings section that refer to classic funky disco strings section arrangement). Let these upbeat house music enliven your party: 

1. Wanna Be Your LOVER (HD level 6)

2. Everything (MX level 8)

3. Fallin' in LUV (MX level 8)

• Screaming Soul

Well, I dunno why I am suddenly in such a depressed mood. Not really depressed actually, but just feeling unhappy. There's a voice inside of me, forcing me to scream all these craziness and depression out of me. And probably these songs would help me throw those shits away: 

1. Out of CTRL (HD level 9)

2. Burn It Down (MX level 7)

3. Rage of Demon (HD level 8)

• Deeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeep

Yes, three electro-house songs to create such a deep ambiance. The range level for this course is between 6 to 7, so it won't be too hard to play. The main thing I chose these songs is because I just want to feel the ambiance.

1. The Rain Maker (HD level 6)

2. MASAI (Electro House Mix)

3. Desperado (Nu Skool Mix)

To my kind-hearted living encyclopedia

It was so frolic, that moment you whispered me those words that jumped into my ears and tickled them that I laughed in joy. Those seconds when you told me funny and joyful things that I had imagined before and you were amazing when you made a dream really felt too real to be just an imagination and too true to be ignored. You showed me the world within your fingertips and your glossy lip. Enlightening my mind like stacks of books, you're a kind-hearted, living encyclopedia for me.

"Ghost" Invasion

I checked the crew race tracker several days ago and found out that "Ghost" had invaded the courses. Yes, an invasion of "Ghost" MX that I talked to myself "So I have to play "Ghost" MX again right after the previous course with "Ghost" MX in it. Is this serious?"

As I realized the release of "Ghost" MX, I assumed that some players would include the song in their courses. And inevitably, there were many.. Yes, there were so many players who included it in their courses. As the result, "Ghost" MX seems to peak the chart of "the most included" songs in crew race. Well, it doesn't only happen to "Ghost" MX. "Wanna Be Your LOVER" HD and "Supernova" NM seem to be in following rank of "Ghost" MX. There are some courses, consist of "Wanna Be Your LOVER", "Supernova", and "Ghost", in different orders (possibly there are nine orders of those three songs). But what happened to me is that I played two courses with those three songs, arranged in the same order (Wanna Be Your LOVER [HD], Supernova [NM], Ghost [MX]) as the screenshot I captured below:

Back to the topic. I think what probably makes "Ghost" MX so booming these days is that the maximum level of "Ghost" is newly released, or there are so many players who love this song. I even saw courses consists of three "Ghost" MX, which means that we played that song for three stages. And I don't know why but I see mostly players put "Ghost" on third stage when it comes with two other songs, even though some courses have it as first song or second song. So it seems like "Ghost" MX gains the popularity so fast these days, and if there's a chart of most-played songs on crew race, I think "Ghost" MX peaks the rank. ㅋㅋㅋ

A Birthday Letter To Tiffany-noona

PS: I copied this letter from my Facebook note. I wrote it on Facebook first since I couldn't access my blog. I also added some things here.

So, it's the first day of August and you're one year older now. Happy birthday, Stephanie Hwang noona! I really, really really really, really happy for you. Getting older, how does it feel? All the things I know is that you're going to be more, more amazing.

I'm writing this letter at twelve o'clock in my country timezone. It must be two o'clock in Seoul time but I don't care. My goal is, that I write this letter to you, and that's all. I know you probably won't read this (or probably there would be someone who forwards this letter to you), but writing this letter to say "Happy Birthday" for you is enough to make me happy.

Noona, you're always amazing. You always succeed making me feel so proud of you. You're talented, beautiful, you have sweet voice, and what else? Because describing you is more than words and I don't know how to describe how awesome you are. You always work hard to reach your dreams and improve your skills. I know nobody's perfect and you, somehow have flaws but I don't care about it because you never give up trying your best. As the result, you always look gorgeous and flawless for me.

I keep wishing that someday we could meet and perform some songs together. You want your very own stage, right? A stage with candles, a stool, and a grand piano. And of course, among the audiences there will be your Dennis Oh sitting and watching your performance. So, I really wish that one we'll meet, and we perform some songs together. I promise I'll practice piano hard to accompany you singing your favorite song. And among the songs on the songlist, please sing "Ring" for me and let me drop my tears while playing the piano for you.

And at last, I pray that you'll always be okay. Don't you ever give up pursuing your dreams. Tiffany Hwang-noona, you have eight sisters, you have so many friends, and you have an uncountable number of fans worldwide. We always support you. Keep smiling and doing that cute wink. Keep performing your best. You'll always be my beloved Fany-mushroom-noona. You're brighter than jewel and you know it.

Tiffany-noona, 사랑합니다.

Ps: Please tell Hyukjae-hyung not to touch you. I'm so jealousy.

Wanna Be Your LOVER

I'm not going to tell you a romantic love story. I'm going to share something about one of my favorite DJMAX songs, "Wanna Be Your LOVER".

Well, I'm so thankful for this song finally comes out on 13th Maxpoint Shop update. Even though it's currently available for Crew Maxpoint only and currently available for Normal level only, but it's such a great start to have funky-disco sensation for one stage.

What makes me so excited is that the song somehow makes me feel like dancing on the dancefloor. Yeah you know, some kind of disco dances, probably with sweet and nice moves. The song reminds me of 80's disco music playing in a discotheque with colorful neon lights and moving gobos. I have a collection of funky disco music and the arrangement of "Wanna Be Your LOVER" is similar the ones in the collection. This song has clean-guitar strumming and melodic arrangement of disco strings, just like the one you can hear in typical of disco music.

And probably there is only one song which has type of disco music in Technika 3. Of all Technika 3 songs I have, "Wanna Be Your LOVER" is the only funky-disco song I can find. Even though compared with "Luv Flow" and "Everything", "Wanna Be Your LOVER" is still the better one to create a funky-disco atmosphere. And personally, I think the one which is equal to be compared with "Wanna Be Your LOVER" is "Elastic Star" by Forte Escape. Unfortunately we cannot find it in Technika 3, but the song is available in DJMAX Portable (you can find the song in soundtrack album "DJMAX Prestige Boxset [L Tunes]" and the remixed version in the "R Tunes").

So, I simply recommend this song to play. And thank God, this song comes in two version, the game version and the extended version which both can be found in the soundtrack album. And yeah, it's worth a try!

DJMAX Technika: Pop Mixing Selection 1

When I play Technika, I mostly play in Pop Mixing mode which lets me freely choose songs I want to play in each stage. And well, there are so many songs you can choose in Pop Mixing, either the ones that are already available or the ones that should be bought from Maxpoint Shop. Furthermore, I can choose the difficulty of the songs by myself. When playing in Club Mixing mode or Crew Race mode, the difficulty (level) of the songs played depends on the disc set itself or someone who registered the course.

And talking about the songs themselves, there are some themes that I can fetch from each songs. Let me give an example: when playing "Heartbeat Part 2", I feel like I'm listening to one of my favorite childhood songs. The song is kind of cute, funny, and kiddie. I don't know if you guys think what I think, but I personally can say that "Heartbeat Part 2" has a cute, kiddie-theme.

I thought about the songs which have similar theme, so I decided to make my own selections for Pop Mixing mode. This is like making a Crew Race course, since we're not able to create our own custom Club Mixing set. But I hope someday there would be an allowance to create custom Club Mixing set. I think it would be fun to let people play the sets we created.

So here are some pop mixing selections I created, based on its theme:

The Epic Story

Is it a tragedy? Or just a dramatic sad-ending romantic story? This epic-theme set boasts dramatic viola melody in "Oblivion", hasty movement of violin in "Propose, Wolf, Flower Part 2" which represents the tension of the tragedy, and powerful arrangement of "Colours of Sorrow".

Preferred level:

• Oblivion [MX - 8]
• Propose, Wolf, Flower Part 2 [HD - 7]
• Colours of Sorrow [MX - 8]

Classical Insanity 

We can find some classical music on DJMAX. This set offers you favorite classical pieces such as Tchaikovsky's romantic waltz "Swan Lake", Saint-Saëns' mysterious "Danse Macabre", and Franz Liszt "La Campanella". And of course, the songs will give you a surprising insanity!

Preferred level:

• Black Swan [HD - 8]
• La Campanella [HD - 7]
• D2 [NM - 8]

Mafia House 

Are you in a pursuit of precious gems? Are you in runaway of police? These songs will make you feel like you're a mafia boss!

Preferred level:

• Enemy Storm [HD - 6]
• The Guilty [MX - 7]
• Showdown [HD - 7]

Last Friday Night 

Do you remember how wonderful it was at the club on last Friday night? You don't need to wait until the next Friday to feel the HEAT of the club, since you can feel the BEAT of the club here in DJMAX. Let's start from "The Rain Maker" that will give you a deep ambiance of Epic Trance. Then you can continue dancing to the melody of "Airwave". And at last, feel the heat and the speed of "Right Back" while giving your best moves on the dance floor.

Preferred level:

• The Rain Maker [HD - 6]
• Airwave [HD - 9]
• Right Back [HD - 7]

Life is about learning

When I log in to my DJMAX Technika account, I rarely check the DJ board. But one day, I checked it and saw a post from a friend of me. She complained her skill of DJMAX Technika. She said that she couldn't play well that she kept failing. She also stated that she often felt nervous whenever she saw someone who played better than her, or at least someone who had higher DJ level than her. She even said she kind of gave up playing DJMAX. 

So I replied her this: 

"Stop saying such things. There's no need to be sad. It doesn't matter whether you play it worse than someone or not, but the important thing is, that you've learnt something. Everytime you play Technika, that's the moment you practice your skill. When you play new songs, even though you fail but at least you learn new patterns of the song. The more you play, the more things you can learn and the better your skill will be. 

Have you ever wondered how the Big-5 ranks started the game? I bet you already know that they, of course, would not play it as well as today. They even started from the very beginning, the easiest level, the easiest song. Sometimes they failed, but they didn't give up. They kept trying their best until you can see them today. They already peak the Big-5 ranks, right? 

Don't feel nervous when you see someone who plays better than you or someone who has higher DJ level than you. Say that your DJ level is level 15 and you see someone whose DJ level is 19. Don't you think that he or she has ever been in the same level like yours? They will never reach level 19 without reaching level 15. Don't be afraid when someone looks down at you. Keep being humble and trying your best. Ignore them who look down at you. Play with no hesitation and be sportive. Failing doesn't mean that you're a loser. And I think that's how you should be as a professional DJMAX Technika player, regardless of your DJ level. 

So don't be sad. Chin up." 

Life is about learning something. Have you ever wondered how you operate the computer? Today, you operate it without any difficulties. Then look back at the time where you really did not know anything about how to operate the computer. You weren't used with the menus, keyboard, mouse, and programs. But you learnt how to operate the computer, even though you made some mistakes. You also learnt from mistakes you had done before. And now, you can operate it well. It's because you have learnt how to operate it. 

All you need to do is learning. Keep learning new things. That's how you understand the life.

Housework Dice

So it was the last day of my visit in Kuala Lumpur. I went to Central Market with my family to buy souvenirs for my relatives and friends. Apart from my family, I walked alone through the corridors of eye-catching shops. I finally stopped at a Chinese shop selling Chinese stuffs and souvenirs.

While looking for souvenirs for my friends, I saw a display full of stuffs. There were also dices with Chinese characters on each sides. I found it unique and asked the shopkeeper about it since my Mandarin is not good (I'm so sad). Then the shopkeeper explained that the dice is purposed to decide housework should be done by each family members.

买菜 [read: mai cai], means buy veggies (grocery shopping)

The dice is called "housework dice" (家务骰子). Well, I think this is such a fun way for a family to decide what should be done by each family members. Sometimes a member refuses the housework he or she is asked to do, and sometimes it seems unfair when a member can be so free meanwhile the other members have to do the housework. So the dice will decide what to do, and it's exciting somehow.

There are six things on the dice:

• Cooking (especially rice)
• Buying veggies (grocery shopping)
• Mopping the floor
• Washing dishes
• Washing clothes
• Doing nothing, which means "relax"

The housework may be vary, but overall the housework on the dice will not be far from the common housework I've explained above. A family can roll the dice weekly, or probably monthly depending on the family rule.

I sometimes roll the dice, just for fun. I'm not ready yet to do it with my family member since the consequences are (actually) not as easy as it looks. I may get "洗衣" (read: xi yi, means washing clothes) or "洗碗" (read: xi wan, means washing dishes) and it's simple thing to do. But since I'm busy with my assignments and classes, so I do not have much time to do even such simple things.

擦地 [read: ca ti, means mopping the floor]

I just rolled again and I got "擦地" (means, mopping the floor). Oh, I hate it!

New Music on My Blog

Well I've found out that my blog seems so boring without something new. I didn't want to either change the layout or change the background and theme of my blog. So I thought about something that would make another new touch to this old blog. So umh... umh... umh.... *impersonating Sunny's aegyo way of thinking* nah, I got it! Let's apply a music!

Now, you can see at the bottom of my blog, there's a small music player bar. If you wonder why there's only one song playing on my blog, well I've made a playlist for a song indeed *hahaha*

Sop why did I choose "Paradiso"?

Paradiso is a smooth guitar-based instrumental song, taken from the original soundtrack of Korean drama titled "Full House". I recommend you to listen to this song on a sunny afternoon, especially when you enjoy sundown moment at the seashore. It's so romantic!

So I really hope you enjoy music on my blog :]