Everything has its limits

My area was hit with water rationing on 12 March and it is set to go on until 30 March. As with everyone else, I was dismayed , even though I kind of expected it considering the decrease in dam levels throughout the state. In the end, it’s not so bad for me as long as the water rationing happens on a working day. It’s a bit tough if I’m at home and the two pails of water I saved could barely meet my needs for two days.
I’ve always known how precious water is and with climate change happening, whether we acknowledge it or not, now is the time to manage our water resources more effectively. The sad thing is, most people take water for granted. I don’t know how we can make it plainer to them that although two thirds of our planet is covered in water, not all the water is fit for consumption. It’s strange but it’s a fact we have to accept. Just because the sun is shining, it doesn’t mean it will not run out of its hydrogen fuel someday. Granted, it’s a very long time away but we need to realise that everything around us needs to be used responsibly.

君がいるから (Because You're Here)

Composed by Masashi Hamauzu
Performed by Sayuri Sugawara
Main theme from Final Fantasy XIII

「泣いたっていいんだよ」 君がふいにそう言ってくれたから
何だか嬉しくて 涙じゃなく 笑顔が零れた

不器用すぎる言葉で 君を傷つけてしまった
それでも 離れたりしないで
今もこうして 支えになってくれてるんだ きっと...

You suddenly said, "You can cry if you want"
Somehow it made me happy, instead of tears I smiled

My words so clumsy, they hurt you
But I don't want you to leave me, I want you to stay beside me always

叶えたい願い 叶えたい夢 届けたい想い 全て
信じ続ける事が奇跡を呼んで 未来に繋がって行くよ
ずっと ねぇ ずっと 見守っていて欲しい
Dear My Friend

Wishes and dreams I want to come true
The feelings I wish I could tell you
A miracle created from the things I've always believed
Is connected to the future
Always, always I want you to watch over me
Dear my friend

「君なら大丈夫だよ」 別れ際にそう言ってくれたから
感じてた孤独が その一言で 綺麗になくなった

新しい扉を開く それは誰でも怖くて不安だらけだけど
背中を押してくれた 君を思い出せば
力が溢れてくるからね

You said, upon leaving "You'll be able to do it"
The loneliness I felt was wiped clean with those words

I'm opening a new door, anyone would be frightened
All I had to do was remember you and the strength flowed through me

素直な気持ち 譲れないもの 正直な言葉 全て
声にして伝える事ができたなら 未来は広がって行くよ
いつも そう いつも 心に君がいるから
Dear My Friend

I won't give up my feelings
If I can make voice to all these words
Then the future will open up
Because forever you are in my heart
Dear my friend

立ち止まっても 忘れそうになっても
何度も何度でも 前を向いて行くと誓うよ
見上げた空 光が差し込んでいる
君にまた逢える日まで

I vow that
No matter if I stop, or if I forget
I will keep moving forward
Light is shining down, when I look up at the sky
Until the day when I can see you again

素直な気持ち 譲れないもの 正直な言葉 全て
声にして伝える事ができたなら 未来は広がって行くよ

願い 叶えたい夢 届けたい想い 全て
信じ続ける事が奇跡を呼んで 未来に繋がって行くよ
ずっと ずっと 見守っていて欲しい
Dear My Friend

I won't give up my feelings
If I can make voice to all these words
Then the future will open up

Wishes, the dreams I want to come true
The feelings I wish I could tell you
A miracle created from the things I've always believed
Is connected to the future
Always, always I want you to watch over me
Dear my friend

Lyrics from here.

Some people just can't leave a great franchise alone...

Can we ever learn from others’ mistakes? We’ve seen it before. A series has a successful run, then churns out season after season of great content. After a while though, you notice something it not quite right. You brush it off as an anomaly, a technical glitch if you will. Then these occurrences are too frequent to ignore and you’re faced with the fact that the show you once knew was no more. It may still be in existence but barely a tenth of its prime.
To me, Peter Jackson has ruined forever the Lord of the Rings franchise with the release of The Hobbit movies. If it wasn’t bad enough that he had to stretch the single book to three movies, he had to alter the story line as well. He had to introduce a new character and a romantic plot which he figured the audience wanted. Well, I'm one part of the audience who didn't like it. What irks me was that The Hobbit would’ve been a good movie if it was just one movie and the director didn’t make too many major alterations with the story line. That’s what bugs me. He had the perfect Bilbo in Martin Freeman. Some say he’s not as charismatic as Elijah Wood playing Frodo but I prefer Bilbo to Frodo. All I can do now is cherish the LOTR trilogy and pretend The Hobbit trilogy never happened.

Another franchise ruined is one I had always admired from afar but never truly experienced. I’m talking about Final Fantasy. I was first introduced to Final Fantasy VIII by my sister. It has a lovely soundtrack and interesting story. After that, a friend in university introduced me to Final Fantasy X. I liked the love story in there and above all, I loved the character designs and animation. It was breathtaking. From there, it was only natural that I discovered Final Fantasy XIII. I really liked the fact that they had a strong, kick-ass girl as the main protagonist. Lightning's character design is awesome.
I thought here was finally a strong and smart main female character. Unfortunately, for the second sequel of FFXIII, the game producers decided to do the unthinkable. They modified the character as if to pander to the fanboys. I read the article about this in dismay. The franchise has sunk so low that I don’t know if they can ever go back to their days of glory. As with the LOTR trilogy, I will cherish the earlier versions of Final Fantasy and pretend the second sequel of Final Fantasy XIII never happened.

Quotable Quotes

"I try never to be governed by fear; that's how I choose things. If I ever feel that this is dangerous or I'm scared of it, then that probably draws me more towards it."

Nicole Kidman, from an interview with The Guardian.

Angels or demons?

She bowed her head. The thought of staying hovered over her like a dark shadow. She was only beginning to grasp the grey reality before her. As a child, she had often walked in the land of the fairies and believed in eternal happiness. Alas, all those hopes and dreams seem to drift further away with each passing day. A lone buttercup butterfly flitted across the cheek and her eyes followed its haphazard flight. To be free as a butterfly, what price must one pay? The world was filled with angels and demons. Naïve as she was, she knew that much at least. But who were the happier ones? The angels or the demons?

WD My Passport

I've been wanting to get an external hard drive for a while; my laptop's free space is at a measly 54GB out of 288GB. I also worry if my laptop crash then there goes all my files. I finally got one today and it's so pretty. I haven't gone to any computer store in ages and I didn't know that external hard drives now come in different designs and colours. I bought the 1TB Western Digital My Passport because of the storage size and design. It comes in a few colours; I chose the stylish blue one :D

Reading List - October

I know it's November already but here's a summary of books I finished in October.

I finally finished reading The Swan Thieves by Elizabeth Kostova. My sister gave it to me as a birthday present a few years ago. I would categorise the book as a psychological thriller. The story is about a psychologist treating a famous artist that was sent into an institution after he attempted to attack a work of art in a museum. Pretty curious start to a story. It has a lot of art references and really brings you into the world of art, which I really liked. I stopped reading it a few years ago when the storyline got darker. I only picked it up again because I wanted to finish it. The ending felt a little anti-climactic to me.

I also ventured to read another Haruki Murakami book, Kafka on The Shore. It was a bit depressing reading it. It's also pretty hard to categorise this book. Like my sis would say, it's fiction with supernatural elements in it. I was a bit put off my the Americanisation of the translation in the beginning; the translator must've been American. But I suppose there was no other way the translator could've conveyed the characters' emotions. The book had a few elements which made me feel uncomfortable but I persevered in reading it. I was curious about two main characters and how everything would play out in the end. The book is quite unlike any other book I've read and I like how neatly everything tied in the end.

I'm back to reading Anne of Green Gables series; am now at book #6, Anne of Ingleside. It's always nice to be back in Anne's world but I realised it's been a while since I read any fantasy book. I kinda miss it. I might read Temeraire book #7 after this or perhaps by then George R.R. Martin would've churned out book #6 of A Song of Ice and Fire? :P