Hanamatsuri: Day 1

Yesterday I went to the Hanamatsuri for the first day this year. The Hanamatsuri is the Flower Festival in Japan, and they have demonstrations that are about Japanese culture and stuff. The have stuff like Kendo and Aikido and Karate. My karate dojo has been performing there for decades (not even kidding about the decades part). I'm a part of the show!

Usually it's really really fun. All my friends come and we hang out before and after the show. We always go lose some money in gambling games. We're always together in the demonstration too. But this year, not many of my friends actually showed up. I'd say about 3 of them actually came, out of many more. I was, honestly, deeply disappointed, because I was really excited to see them. But I did have some friends there, so it wasn't a total loss.

I brought my camera because Kristin sorta inspired me to take more pictures of stuff. I wanted to take photos of my friends, but there wasn't much to take photos of. We were just sorta talking and doing nothing. I let my friend take some pictures because she seemed more into it than I was. I thought she was doing a good job, until I actually saw the photos. ALL of them were blurry. A few of them that I took weren't blurry or weren't as blurry, but all of her's were blurry. I was deeply upset by this because she took all the pictures of my friends and me. My goal was to get one good photo with me in it, and all of them were crappy. I deleted most of my pictures yesterday. I didn't wanna see them anymore.

That was very disappointing for me. I saw them at the end of the day and I went to bed upset. But anyways, the point of the day was the demonstration. The demonstration had a lot of new juniors in it. Some of them were good I think, but some of them were just downright terrible. During the basic drills for the show, the boy in front of me was just guessing about his steps and acted like he was just training and not as it was a show. That really ticked me off, because I really like to have this demonstration a good one. I wouldn't want to see some short kid messing up with his techniques. I'd want to see some good people.

Most of my parts were okay. I did basics, sparring, weapons and sword. Basics were as stated above. They weren't anything special. I just did them. Sparring was okay also. I had a good partner, so I felt okay with it. Now for the weapons, there's a little bit of back story as to how I landed this part:

It was originally assigned to a black belt woman. She was sitting next to me when we were deciding roles in the demo. She was sorta making faces about how she hadn't done the weapon in years. I told her I knew how to do it, but that I had to do sword right after, so I couldn't do it. She must have been really desperate, because she offered to pay me to take her place. I said I'd think about it, and we all went downstairs to get ready. As we were about to go on, she goes and tells my sempai about it, and my sempai asks if I could do it. I said I could try, but I'd have to go on with my sword outfit. He said I could do it and I took the part. The black belt woman then nudged me and told me that she'd have $5 waiting for me after the show. I found this very funny.

I did the part, but I think I sucked at it. It's honestly hard to lift your legs up when you have a dress/very long and baggy pants on. But I'm guessing it wasn't the worst. I'm hoping it wasn't the worst. I haven't picked up those weapons in forever.

Then the sword demonstration. I was in the back. It was okay, nothing special I don't think. We were really tight on space, so I wasn't able to complete one of my cuts because we were too close. But that's all that really happened.

Bow, close curtain, run out to change, food time. I had two sno-cones. How filling.

Well that was my day. I think the second day is usually better overall, but that's me trying to be optimistic. I still have yet to get a good picture with me in it. I'm hoping today I'll get that picture, and the demonstration will be a better show. Wooo!!! HANAMATSURI

Haz a goodz weekendz peoplez!

UNDERFIRE 2 Update and Why I Haven't Posted in a While

Okay, I haven't been posting in a while, but I have good reason for it.

Monday I got home from school expecting a nice while at home editing or piano or something productive. 15 minutes after I get home, we leave for karate. I was like "WHAT THE HELL!!" but my mom made me go anyway.

I waited for an hour, then I trained with my friend (the one that reminds me of Matt Damon). It was an okay class, and it reminded me how wimpy I am (my friend was able to do pushups twice as fastas the rest of the class). It was fun I guess, but I didn't get home till 9, and at that point, I didn't feel like posting.

Tuesday: I got home feeling really shitty. I had a headache and a sore throat, and I was in a really pissy mood. Thus, I went to bed early after doing homework.

This is where the fail happens:

I woke up this morning with a 100 degree fever and a headache that made me want to fall sideways everytime I step. I wanted to go to school to take the quizzes (but mostly to see my friends), but I ended up staying home. I spent about 3 hours watching TV, then I edited for about 1 hour, and then I took a 3 and a half hour nap. And thus, I am here. It's been a pretty boring day I suppose.

By the way, I dreamt that I was Jenny the Teenage Robot and my parts were regenetitive. It was interesting to say the least...

Anyway, the main point to this post is to update you on how I'm doing in UNDERFIRE 2. I'm actually almost done, and I'm hoping to get it finished by Friday. I'll go into some detail of what major things I've been doing.

I composed all the tracks in order as I wanted them. That took about 45 minutes I guess. Then I went into COLOR CORRECTING MODE, which took me a surprising hour to finish.

This is what the color correcting did:



With the color correcting in place, the whole video looks more overcast, dreary and wet, thus creating the atmosphere that was our goal. Without the color correcting, it just looks wet on the ground. The slight tint of blue helped make it more realistic I guess.

I edited the audio for some of the clips because there were sounds in the background that were distracting/not supposed to be there. Didn't take too long. Then I added all the sound effects. I used sound effects from Counter-Strike: Source, Day of Defeat: Source, Half Life 2 and Team Fortress 2. Most of them sound pretty good with their respective guns. Then the music. Most music is from HL2, and there is one TF2 song at the beginning.

And now, I'm adding muzzle flashes. There aren't many different clips I need them from, but a lot of it is of Ryan spraying his gun. It looks okay, but damn, annoying.

Also, at the request of Henry, I've made a new decal for the gun flashes. I guess it does actually look better, much thanks to After Effects!

But I've got a bit of a bug with it right now, so I can't show a pic. Sorry.

Well I'll update later. Peace out.

Long Day?

Today was sorta a long day. I went to the main karate tournament at 8:30 a.m. and I got back at around 8:30 p.m.? Yeahh, it's been a long, long long long day.

I went there, competed in one event that lasted about an hour, I volunteered for another hour, and the rest I just hung out. I had a few friends to run around with. My friend Jared and I probably trespassed in part of the school, but it was okay because there was a gate in front of us and we needed to get around. And I walked around the school with my friends Abigail and Angelica. Nice girls, but I swear, they used to be taller....

I saw some pretty nasty fights today. They were ring matches, but damn.... just damn.... these guys, I swear, could be world champions. They would just be right there, then BANG! Hook kick to the back of the head. Their punches were so fast it's almost unimaginable how quick they were. I'm glad I didn't fight today! I woulda got raped.

Oh yeah, my division, I also got pretty raped. The first guy up just blew everyone away, and my friend Alex and I were like "Well, there goes Gold..." Eh, I was there to represent.

It was a ton better than yesterday I must admit. I had a lot of fun actually. Good day actually, enjoyed it a lot better than last year. I even met a new friend! And, don't take this the wrong way or anything, but he reminds me so much of Matt Damon.... SO much....

Well, sweet dreams kiddies.

Sorta Long Day

Today was sorta a long day. I woke up at 9 and I popped on my computer and started editing a bit. I got the gun sounds in and now I'm adding music. At 11:30 I left for what became something that dragged on longer than it should have.

Every year, we have a huge karate tournament where people from around the world come meet at this high school gym to compete in karate. Today was just weapons and stuff, and tomorrow is the main competition. I went today for a seminar and a Batto-do competition.

The seminar was okay. It was a bunch of sparing drills (which by the way means fighting drills). It was pretty good, and I met a new friend from Canada! Oh the irony!

Then the Batto-do tournament started. Batto-do is basically the art of cutting with a Japanese katana (sword). Like in the movies, the swords the samurai always carry around. That sword. Yeah I do that. I'll give you a picture when I can.

Well the competition for me didn't start right away, so I sat against a wall with my long dress-thing on and my sword. I got sleepy. Then I got sleepier. Finally I got so sleepy that I leaned back against the wall more and fell asleep. This was in an area where basically everyone walked by. I was pretty much unconscious for a good 15 minutes or so. I woke myself up when my head started leaning forward. From what I hear, there were a few people taking pictures of me. I don't care, I got to sleep, I still win.

The competition finally came. On my second go for the elimination round I got eliminated. I was pretty upset. I had done better the second time than the first, but I lost. I was pretty confused and pretty angry, but I didn't show it and held it off till later.

Turns out I did 2 minor things wrong (one of which I was never ever taught) and they deducted me for that. They also added that, other than those few details, I looked really good. I'm thinking, "Wow, these karate masters remembered me out of everyone else here, and they remembered what I did wrong." I was feeling okay then, but then I remembered that they eliminated me for it. Then I thought "What the fuck. I should have won that...."

I realized today that I'm pretty damn competitive. I try not to show it because I'm embarrassed by it, but I am actually very very competitive. I don't usually do anything well unless I have some sort of competition running next to me. I do better with competition/people to OWN. I hate competing at these karate tournaments, but when I do, I MUST WIN.

Not like I will win tomorrow, but who knows? Miracles are real.

So overall today wasn't that bad, but I coulda gone a few years without it. I'd rather be at home editing or doing something not productive. I just have to keep thinking to myself: "It's just one weekend.... Not a big deal.... Chill...." So far it hasn't worked.

Well I think now after a good 9 hours out, I'm ready for a shower and a bit of editing. Tomorrow is gonna be a long, long, long day....

Productive!

The past 2 days have been extremely productive for me.

Yesterday I went to karate at 9 o'clock. My plan was to do a special class at 11 o'clock for 2 hours, but I decided to do the 2 classes prior too. The first class was decent, just did some normal things. Same for the 2nd class too. The 2 hour class I expected to be extreme conditioning and training to get me ready for competition. Well, by now you should have figured out that the class did not end up that way.

I was stuck, for 2 hours, teaching kids half my size how to fight. I planned on fighting with my friends, doing workouts, sparing constantly and jumping around. Instead, my friends left 15 minutes into the class, and I was stuck helping little kids beat the snot of each other (not really). It was total bull. Half of them didn't listen, some others didn't understand what I was saying, and they didn't care if they made physical contact with their punches. It was boring, and it basically wrecked the rest of my day.

But luckily I didn't have much of a day ahead of me. I went home, showered, and I sat in front of my computer and played. I played Day of Defeat: Source for a good 3 hours. I figured out that the B.A.R. (Browning Automatic Rifle) is an uber weapon and that all should fear my awesome wrath when I have that gun in my hands. Then I went on Team Fortress 2 with my friend Kristin and we owned everyone deep in the butt. She owned with the Medic and I owned with the Sniper.

TF2 = <3

Spent a good 5 or 6 hours playing TF2 with my good buddy Kristin. Ahh fun.

Then I watched Bangkok Dangerous. Horrible movie. Don't want to talk about it.

Next day: I woke up and started playing Day of Defeat for about 45 minutes. I got about 13 kills and I earned a new achievement. Already my day was going positively. Then I went to karate and did my class. It was a good class; it's a lot easier to train with adults. Got home, went to lunch, then got home again and played Day of Defeat for another 2 hours. More kills there.

I decided then to try my hand at Call of Duty World at War. My mission at the moment is to finish the campaign on Veteran. I finished Eviction and Black Cats. Then I played the hardest level in the game, Blowtorch & Corkscrew. It's a short level, but damn, I don't see how anyone can do this in one life. Bullets from everywhere, grenades from no where, and machine guns that can see me through tall grass. It was infuriatingly hard, took me, just that level, more than an hour to finish. Once I beat that level, I quickly exited the game and moved on with life.

Next was more Team Fortress 2. My friends were playing all on the same server, so I joined them. Not gonna go into detail with this, but I began to like the Medic a lot, and that Payload maps suck when you're a pyro. Played this for a good 4 or 5 hours.

Yup, that was my past 2 days. Very very productive, I must say... I got an achievement, over 300 kills overall in video games, saw a terrible movie, and was at karate for a good/bad 5 hours. Long weekends are the best.

... I just remembered I have Algebra homework.... Fuck.

Post tomorrow, after filming is done. And I apologize if you couldn't understand what I was saying in this post. It's sorta your fault you don't understand, but what the heck, I'm a gentleman.