"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 :]

Merlion Congratulated Me On My Birthday

So, lemme see how long I've been away, eh? Hahaha, I've been away for weeks, I guess. And yeah, now I come up with the stories of my birthday vacation. Vacation? Yup, my parents had actually planned a visit to Singapore before my holiday. As the result, I celebrated my birthday in Singapore, and that was very very great!

So I took a flight to Singapore on May 27th in a very early morning. The plane landed at Changi Airport about an hour and half later. When a lady officer checked my passport, she asked me how old I am. She also gave me hint of my birthday that I laughed and admitted visiting Singapore to celebrate my birthday.  She congratulated me before I left.

And I continued the trip with my tour group. We went to Merlion park to take pictures there. It was cloudy so the day wasn't as hot as if it's sunny. It wasn't my first visit to Merlion park, but still Merlion excited me. It was Sunday and I have to admit it I didn't really enjoy taking pictures there at the day because there were so many people there, I mean, too many people there! It was very very crowded that little children might be lost. But fortunately I could still take some pictures there.

What I regret the most is, that I couldn't visit Marina Bay Sands. I wish I could have swum in the gorgeous rooftop infinity swimming pool :[ but yeah, at least I've visited Merlion. Some believe that a person is not visiting Singapore yet if he doesn't visit Merlion. So I think visiting Merlion when you go to Singapore is a must *LOL*

The last two pictures show photos of me with the view of Singapore CBD as the background. Compared with other pictures above, I prefer the last two pictures to the others. I don't know, it's probably because of the pose (?)

Okay, so I continued the tour, and the next destination was Chinatown. Yeehaw! Chinatown! Well, I felt like home. There were so many Chinese ornaments in red, here and there. I smelled joss-sticks burnt, deep fried snacks, and good-smell perfumes from perfumeries. I didn't buy a lot of things there, but I bought a T-shirt and some keyholders. I had to be aware of pickpockets since the streets were crowded. There are so many stalls and shops selling unique stuffs and gifts, from T-shirts to keyholders, from perfumes to cheongsam. Visiting Chinatown is a must, and certainly, visiting The Buddha Tooth Relic Temple is a must, too!

So, when did I celebrate my birthday? Okay, let's skip several hours until 10p.m, Singapore time. I arrived at the hotel and I took a rest for a while. I shared a room with my father's student whom I consider him as a big brother. Someone knocked the door and it was my father's student named Icha. She invited us to go out and have fun with her friends (the tour group consisted of my family, my father's workmates, and my father's students from EduTech department). So, my seniors and I went out and I told them that tomorrow would be my birthday (May 28th), so they cheered for me and we counted the time while walking around the city.

Our destination that night was Mustafa Center. My phone rang, alarming my birthday. My seniors congratulated me and we sang while walking to Mustafa Center. Some people looked at us but we didn't care. I was so happy and it was the fist time I celebrated my birthday outside. A senior recorded a video of me saying something about my birthday and my wishes, and I'm too shy to upload it (hehe).

We finally ended up chatting and having some snacks at pedestrian cafe nearby Mustafa Center. I bought a can of Pringles, my favorite snack, and some chocolate bars and drinks. We chatted about a lot of things and we also took some pictures.

I got ten dollar from Ka Angga :]

We were celebrating my birthday :]

from left to right: Ka Fanny, Ka Icha, me, Ka Angga

We went back to hotel at 1p.m, and when I arrived at the hotel, I checked my Twitter. So many tweets for me from my friends, congratulating me on my birthday. Wow, thank you so much! That birthday is so memorable and I cannot forget it. Once more, thank you for y'all! :D

I'm a person, too

I've been here for about eighteen years, and things have changed a lot, here and there. As I see the differences, I often feel something like going to go on a different way. It might not affect me, or it might hurt. So many people I've met, many people I know. Nobody's the same. Someone can change unpredictably, so can I. Sometimes when people change, there's such a feeling that makes me not able to accept the changes.

I sometimes cannot accept the changes. Therefore I walk away. The more people change and my feeling cannot accept it, the farther I walk away. And sometimes I feel lonely. Yes, I sometimes feel lonely. I'm a complicated person. Many people find it hard to understand me deeper. Some have given up, the rest are still trying to understand me deeper. I do not intend to be selfish, but I hate being left alone, being kept waiting for a long time, and being neglected. Someone treats me such way and I'll be disappointed. There I walk away and I do not want to say a thing to that person. In conclusion, I hate being disappointed anyway.

I sometimes smile and laugh, just to blur the hint of loneliness and sadness in me. But I'm a person, too. I eventually feel sad, angry, frustated, lonely, and I try so hard to do something that can cheer me up and help myself get up from the downheartedness. Smiling rarely works on cheering me up, since the loneliness and sadness perish my smile away soon like a wood burnt. But I always try not to let myself get too downhearted, as I've promised myself and some closest-friends before. I might cry, feel sad, be mad, be frustated, or protest since I'm a person. Yeah, because I'm a person, too. But I do believe, one day I'll wake up in the morning, see day as a new page of my life, feel my energy burnt, and think to myself that the happiness is in the air.

[sighs]

My Reasons To Idolize Tiffany Hwang

When my jiejie (Chinese for elder sister) showed me SNSD's "Hoot" music video for the first time, my eyes tried to capture Choi Sooyoung whom I did not know the name at that time. Then, I started asking my jiejie about her. I searched information about her on internet and started to idolize her. I did not know much about SNSD at that time, so when people talked about SNSD, the only thing I knew are, first, Choi Sooyoung; second, Hoot; third, there are nine members whom I (at that time) didn't know the names except Sooyoung.

She is tall, pretty, and amazing. Or yeah she's the tallest among the other members that I, at the first time, couldn't believe Taeyeon as the leader is even shorter than her. So, people talked all about SNSD and I kept mentioning Choi Sooyoung, Choi Sooyoung, and Choi Sooyoung.

As time went by, I got more information about that nine-member girlband. The group consists of Taeyeon as the leader, so-called dancing-queen Hyeoyeon, Sunny, Tiffany, Yuri, YoonA, Seohyun, Jessica (whom my jiejie was so obsessed to look like her), and definitely, Choi Sooyoung. I copied some songs from my jiejie's cell-phone and listened to them for days. Being aware that I only got singles from my jiejie's cell-phone, I decided to find full albums and EPs. Now, I have several albums on my iTunes which I sometimes play to accompany me working. And one day, a friend recommended me a song sung by Taeyeon titled "If". I listened to the song and there, I thought that the other members probably had solo performances, too. So I searched for other members' solo performances and I found one by Tiffany titled "Ring".

I listened to Tiffany's "Ring" and I started to love it. The song is so beautiful and romantic, arranged in wonderful arrangement. I still love the song. I often listen to it and set my music player to repeat one-song only, so I will not listen to anything but Tiffany's "Ring". As the result, "Ring" is ranked as the first on Most-Played song on my iTunes.

Then I thought myself,

""Ring" is amazing. I think Tiffany must be amazing, too,"

So I looked for information about Tiffany and a blog provided a comprehensive biography of her. I read the articles about her thoroughly and I started to like her. But reading her biography was not enough for me so I read more and more about her, and I thought I'd idolize her soon.

Yes! I idolize her now!

I have reasons why I idolize her. It's not because she's beautiful (hey, she's beautiful indeed and it doesn't need to be questioned), it's because some things that she has.

Tiffany starred MTV SNSD Special on 5th episode and I found out that she came to South Korea from United States on 2004 by herself to pursue her dream. She's amazing. She went to Korea by herself and she worked so hard to give the best. The way she worked so hard is admirable. She tried to persuade her father to let her go pursue her dream since her father didn't want her to be a singer at first, and she did it. She practices hard on dancing and singing, and she always tries her best, even though she is not the leader. She always tries to improve herself. She sometimes finds difficulty in pronouncing some Korean vocabularies, but she doesn't give up easily. I think she must have made great improvement for herself.

Her personality is also the reason to love her. I see her smile. Yes, she always smiles. And yeah, again, I watched the 5th episode of MTV SNSD Special. Tiffany said that all she would do when she was feeling sad is smiling, because she thought that smiling is the best thing to do. She also said that she doesn't like crying in front of people because it's embarrassing. I don't need much time to say that she's a friendly person, even though I haven't met her face-to-face. And she's a strong person. She sometimes feels lonely, sad, or angry, but she won't let things get her too downhearted and finally she will overcome it.

 

So, about her voice? Ah, I don't need to explain more about it. She's bright, even brighter than jewels, and she has sweet amazing voice. It's probably hard to listen to Tiffany's voice in particular when she performs with the group, but she has several solo performances in which she sings a song by herself. "Ring", "Because It's You", and "I'm Alone" are my favorite Tiffany's solo performances. You might want to listen to those songs so you will hear her voice more clearly. 

So, yeah, I think that's all I can explain about her. I actually still have a lot of things to show how I adore her, not only as an idol, but also, umh... well, she's like a sister for me. I can say that SNSD must be very thankful to have her. And I thank God for knowing her. Why? Because she somehow motivates me. It may sound weird since I haven't met her in real life, but there's a way she can indirectly teach me a lot of things in this life.

누나,구마워요 :)