私の生きた証拠

Watching KimiKiss on TV Saitama.

The image is frigging poor quality, by the way.

Please continue to support Ayako-sama while I’m off relaxing (as best as I can as a prisoner) at home! Of course I’ll be continuing to support her while enjoying the same air she breathes.

^^

Following discussions with my very worldly-soon-to-be-married-thirty-year-old-big-sister I have decided that the case is not worth a police report.

In any case I have remained safe and well, with no bodily harm inflicted upon my person (except through my own actions; my right big toe was bleeding profusely from a high-speed collision with the wooden stairs at home). And as I’ll be heading for my spiritual home tomorrow, do stay tuned for updates on the life of a poor man visiting home while a prisoner in a moving gilded cage (not unlike the Emperor during the Edo period at the gosho in Kyoto).

Here’s to all folks who are *working* for the JLPT: 頑張れ！

People, if I do not remove this notice or post here in TWO DAYS, please assume that I have met with extreme danger or death, and please get the police to act on it. In fact the danger extends to my family, so I request your vigilance and assistance in this matter.

I have been receiving phone calls from a dubious source and I have reason to suspect that I am the target of fraud, or something far more sinister.

While I still retain some faith in the legal and police systems of this country, I would like to leave a notice just in case.

I thank you for your attention.

I realized that I really don’t have time to talk about my lunch date on Tuesday. I should get to it before I forget about it. Okay maybe I won’t exactly forget that the event took place, but I might forget some of the more interesting things I have to say about it.

In the ancient past, I did not listen to songs with vocals. I cannot remember the reason why, but now the logic of my decision back then occurs to me.

Putting it simply, while the human voice is in my opinion the most wonderful instrument for pleasure ever invented (or rather, honed, since voices came with evolution), music without it can be much more enduring because of the lack of ‘direct’ ‘human involvement’. Essentially without the voice, the piece may be composed by man, but its impersonality (as opposed to songs that one tends to attach to a mental image of a particular person) can allow it to meld into one’s consciousness. Case in point: 「patch of blue sky」 (from Ayako-sama’s album Primary). No matter what song I might get obsessed with for a while (even Ayako-sama’s other songs) I’ll still return to it before too long. Hence it hasn’t dropped from my top ten weekly track list ever since it’s debut practically three months ago. No wonder I have over 800 scrobbles for the track as of last count.

Well, that’s not to say that I prefer 「patch of blue sky」 over any and all other songs at all times; it’s just that I feel music appreciation styles reflect a person’s view towards commitment in romantic relationships - a person who listens to tracks randomly all the time just generally cannot make up his mind as to what he wants (preferring variety), whereas a person who loops a track over and over again for a period of time before moving on to others and never coming back is into serial monogamy. For me, I would say that while I might get distracted by another track or two for a while, at the end of the day (or a week) I’ll return to 「patch of blue sky」, because like the legally-wedded wife of old who is the one to bear your kids and inherit your assets and who will always wait for you to come home from all that philandering, 「patch of blue sky」 is perhaps the only track in which I can find lasting peace and solace.

I suspect I’ll get rocks thrown at me for saying this, but I suppose I don’t really mind. To each his own, anyway. Nothing wrong with serial monogamy; just avoid creating business for divorce lawyers. They are nasty existences to begin with, anyway.

Before I begin, I’d just like to say that sometimes doing translation work has its definite rewards - one of the most priceless forms of which is people leaving little notes saying how much they like a particular song (or my translation for it). That in itself is pretty much the finest reward people like me, Azu and DarkMirage can get - just being appreciated for our efforts, and the knowledge that our work has helped someone else out there enjoy a song (or even an artist) more than they would have otherwise. I really think that’s what keeps us going, even though we don’t get paid for doing so, and occasionally get into scuffles with our fellow people over errors and such. Still, I’d like to think we’re all comrades in the same business, and rivals though we may be at times, we derive the same satisfaction for a job well done, and welcome (and indeed, seek) the recognition and appreciation of listeners and readers out there. Yep.

Thanks, people, for reading our (invariably flawed and often noob) translations, and I will try to keep up the good work as best as I can. Be rest assured that any translation that does not meet my own standard will either not appear on this site, or have a note stating this judgement. I will try to make sure that your trust in me is not misplaced. For now, please bear with more angstings and random reminiscing (or alternatively, please feel free to ignore all this; click on the ‘Lyrics’ category on the side menu to escape this randomness).

では、本題に移ります。

The weekend that just past was pretty eventful by my standards (given that I don’t run into hot Japanese women every day or win prizes that I never expect to win every day either), and indeed it was perhaps unusually rewarding (and a tad distressing; more on this later).

Let’s start with Saturday.

(more…)

Listening to this single leads to me really like Gotou Saori (後藤沙緒里). All three tracks are good, but track three 「手紙」 “Tegami” [Letter] is the best.

I wonder if I should start following her releases from now on. She’s sort of cute anyway.

But no Ayako-sama still pwnz her outright, of course. That’s not going to change anytime soon.

Do check out the CD anyway!

The postman arrived earlier today, though I confess I didn’t notice.

My long-awaited Ayako-sama’s Genzai no Aperitif （原罪のAperitif） and Tainaka Sachi’s Lipstick/Ichiban Boshi (Lipstick／一番星) were in the package.

I hope she’s having enough sleep.

I sat for the EJU on Sunday.

Needless to say, Math was a washout. Japanese went okay; Japan and the World pretty bad as well.

Oh well. At least it’s over.