tracklist:
01. BIRTH
02. Velonica
03. 別れの詩～Still Connected～
04. 虹
05. STAY GOLD
06. 夏のかけら
07. ほんとはね
08. massigura
09. 月、昇る
10. この星に
11. きらきら ～original ver.～
12. One
13. うたい去りし花
14. Re：BIRTH
15. 虹 ~Album ver.~

i'll just do everything since this is their first album i'm listening to. yes i know that's damn noob, but better late than never! :D

this is a nice change from all the bits and pieces i've been listening to, it's a very full-bodied album and all the tracks here are good, though not all of them may be exceptional (i.e. you don't cringe and want to skip tracks). it also has all the things i like, from pure rock like Velonica and この星に to all the heartwarming tracks, which Aqua Timez pulls off superbly. plus they're also some of the most interesting songs i've heard from this band.

right.

BIRTH is a 30-second prelude, it's so short you wouldn't think it'd do much, but tadaaa there's brilliant composing and i love brilliant composing. there are sweet guitars and whatnot iｎ the back, but the melody is NICE and that's really where it shines. it's short, sweet, and NICE. also it has these noises at the end which end quite abruptly, making it a perfect opening to Velonica.

Velonica is same old, same old, still as fantastic as ever, though not as mind-blowing for me as i first heard it (go see the Velonica single review), but putting it after BIRTH makes you want to listen to it and when it starts i usually just listen to it. XD

別れの詩～Still Connected～ (i think 詩 is read as "uta") is one of my favourites, because it has a decent melody, super nice chords, beautiful guitar parts on the opening and this amazing amazing part where futoshi goes ”笑っておくれ” and it goes so well with the chords. it first starts out with piano accompaniment but later turns into a more rock song, so this is like a song that just happens to have a lot of things i like. and it's hard to get tired of too. :D

虹 - still sounds the same, i got sick of this a long time ago because it's so old already. but yeah, good song in its own right.

i love the intro parts of STAY GOLD, so emo rock-ish. and the chorus is interesting! it sounds very mature and it's also one of my favourite tracks. (oh there's this weird part in the middle where futoshi's "し" sounds damn weird and it still bothers me today. but that's beside the point.)

夏のかけら and ほんとはね sound the same as well, i skip these often. they sure put a lot of old tracks in.

massigura IS MY FAVOURITE. :D a LOT of people think it's weird but i think it's great. the song consists of repeating guitar riffs, a sexy cool bassline, really really fast rapping and the chorus is mainly one note. so at first i thought i would dislike it because i've always disliked Aqau Timez rapping, but i guess it has too much energy and the chorus is very very simple but powerful rock. makes you want to jump around the room and nod your head like crazy. i'd like to see them do this one live, if it's possible. other than being a wonderful rock piece it has many many weird but interesting bridges after the verses, and the rapping is quite nice (omg) for once! (anyway you can't hear what they're rapping nor singing, i only caught the word "masshigura".) WHAT'S MORE i went to see the lyrics and it's sort of a tribute to their music journey, and has tons of attitude. so, thumbs up (: it's one of those really-love-it-or-really-hate-it songs, and it ended up being the one i automatically switch to when i listen to the album, and i always look forward to listening to it. (it's the "screaming song" i was blasting the other day in class.) how come i always end up liking these weird songs with bad singing. XD o well.

月、昇る has latin influences which i don't really like, but the chorus is kinda tolerable and the verses are quite awkward, so it took me some time to get used to this. too latin for my liking.

この星に is another rock piece, i like it again for its energy. the verses are very rocker and the chorus is quite nice. the part after the chorus though, is nice when you first hear it but gets irritating after a while. and then if you listen too much it gets a bit tiring because the drums for the chorus are not exactly my favourite kind. (okay sorry i just don't like that rhythm.) but it's still one of my favourites.

きらきら ～original ver.～ - woohoo love this! they mixed electronica in the front (reminded me of -SORA涙色-) which i have come to like, more beautiful guitars, calm verses, and a fantastic chorus that's again, brill composing, especially the kira kira part. very good to sing along and very catchy. i have no complaints about this, it's almost perfect.

i don't like the opening of One because it's quite ... sian, but it evolved into bouncy verses and a catchy chorus, which are nice! it somehow feels like a song people will sing at farewells, almost like a graduation song, because it has a touch of nostalgia about it that i can't really place my finger on. the lyrics fit well and i understand what they're singing, quite shuang, haha! XD

うたい去りし花 is supposed to be the main point of this album, seeing as it's being named after it and all. this song has a lot of space and depth, and i heart the chords at the start - so nice! i don't like the verses but i like the chorus, which is more important. it's more of a ballad and sounds pretty much like their old stuff so it's not very memorable for me, so it just falls under "nice & good" but not "outstanding", IMO. i don't know, a lot of people seem to like it, maybe it's just my weird taste in music.

Re:BIRTH is brilliant because it automatically brings you back to the start of the album - it's something like a full-blown version of BIRTH. and by virtue of the melody, it's one of the best as well. it also has good guitar and piano parts, and this lovely idk what rhythm part in the verses, which makes it kinda majestic and have a sense of closure. (it's brilliant how it started with BIRTH and ended with Re:BIRTH because Re:BIRTH reminds you what a long way you've come through this hour-long album and is a really nice closing piece.) even when they packed 3 choruses together it's still fine due to the lyrics. it ends sounding like BIRTH (see what i mean?) and my only gripe is that it ends too fast. one of my favs as well.

虹 ~Album ver.~ is, again, latin-tinted and is just plain weird, not in a good way. it was meant to be something like an extra track, but i skip it all the time. it sounds like niji + frolicking drums + dancepop. /: the front part was nice, i give it the credit, but give me the old niji any day, thank you. (me hates remixes.)

うたい去りし花 is a very very very loooong album. i get sick of Aqua Timez's stuff quite easily especially if i keep listening, but i managed to listen to this on loop (haha) without getting tired of it. and futoshi's vocals, which i've always liked, are wonderful and spot on as usual. it's very interesting and easy for different kinds of people to like, because it's diverse. not bad not bad!

hi guys.

i felt like i should say something properly without crying for once, so just want to say, THANK YOU. (:

my heart got broken a few months back, but what you guys did for me really really touched me, gave everything a proper sense of closure, healed it back, made everything right, because i don't think i could bear just disappearing suddenly one day, just like that.
it was unexpected, and it helped me a lot, told me to move on and let me know that all of you are always there.
so i'm very very very grateful.(:

i love being a chorister, i always have. and rioHC has been the most amazing place - like nothing i've ever done before. (it's almost like choir mecca, where everyone's in sync and have the same heart.) for one, it's the choir i got most emotional about (i seriously didn't cry like that in my NY and primary school choirs). and it's the most soul-searching, intense, brain-requiring experience (it's so much more meaningful than school, while being 10 times tougher.) and there's this inexplicable sense of belonging that grew in such a short time. rioHC let me do what i really wanted, to sing with the best, and sing with the same soul and intensity. and i discovered so much along the way (like how wonderful basses sound:P), how beautiful a choir can really sound (VCH rehearsal's orpheus!), breaking all my limits (learning how to sing with colour and life), so much; and it's done more for me than any other experience in my life.

thank you thank you thank you seniors and batchmates, and long-time fellow choristers. i can't express the overflowing feelings so i cry all the time and i think i freak the guys out, but i hope you know how i feel, so.

i don't want to go. i don't plan to stop singing, i don't want to stop singing, there's still so much to learn!
so i promise you i won't.
i hope that you all won't forget that i'm always there, waiting to sing with you again.

CHORISTER AT HEART FOREVER, AND CHORISTER-TO-BE SOMEDAY!


(special thanks to joelynn for the super cute totoro and the autograph book, and the SOPS (:D), espescially the seniors who do the kindest things. ;) i probably made some of you angry at some time, but you're the best seniors i've met who do the craziest things but really truly care, and i'll miss you guys!
and to the j1 sop 2s, sorry for pangseh-ing you i'm sorryeeeeeee. ><)


さよならじゃないからな。

milo vans ftw!
i don't really remember them for the past 4 years ...
csm was just sianing around and walking around, and laughing at the fac comm. (and zixin's Big Moment, haha)
then 401 had an impromptu gathering where we talked about all the 401 topics like school and grades. :D then running around looking for teachers. which was really nice.
i miss 401!
teachers' race where ny totally owned hc and we all went to be traitors and cheered for ny.

went to the src lab after that with huimin and jiayi, which was NICE and roomy and chock full of shiny new equipment (and crytals at that point of time). seems like someone up there doesn't want me to do research.

then we did what we always do and went off to orchard kino to get xy's long overdue present, and lose ourselves in books and mags and laughing at more people on mag covers. and fawning over all the stuff that's classified under "don't really need but really really really wannnnt". we went to mess up the stationery section this time as well. i'll go look for the photos.
popular totally sucks (except for the pricing).

after which we went to the national library to do pw (XD) and ended up doing a stupid thing. stupid thing = not realizing there's a photocopying room in lee kong chian reference library and copying chapters of a book with pencil and paper. but nevermind, i've gotten over it already.

maybe it's just today, where everyone's emo and drained and sick and fed up with everything else.

i don't know what made it happen so suddenly, but it's the first time i'm really sick of all this studying. all the elitism crap. living up to expectations. trying to be on top all the time.
and i'm despairing about the future because i'm stuck in the middle, not knowing what to do, where to go. feeling suffocated and held back by stupid stupid STUPID things.
then i suddenly find that i can't do anything properly anymore, even stuff i used to be able to do last time, like i've invested my time in too many areas and they're all getting screwed up - not just schoolwork but family and friendships and commitments - and i've got nothing left. then the loose ends come back to haunt you.
such a mess. and it's scary. and i can't do anything about it.
for once i'm really depressed.
feel like crying a lot nowadays.

prospects of scholarships and applications and leadership crap and OMG I'M DAMN SICK OF IT. i look at the stack of pamphlets my mum brought home from the university talk, and i feel like crying. the only salvation comes from music and recently, books (i've almost forgotten how good the feeling of losing yourself in books can be). fandom hasn't been helping much because it's not *approved* and it's been really hard to watch stuff when your parents are around half the time and your computer is facing the door.

all they care about is grades, achievements, grades, grades, pragmatic benefits; they don't even give a damn about portfolio and throw holistic education out of the window.
all i care about is to be happy.

can't even do what i like anymore.
don't even know how i'm going to work out my life anymore.

The Big Read reckons that the average adult has only read 6 of the top 100 books they've printed.
1) Look at the list and bold those you have read.
2) Italicise those you intend to read.
3) Underline the books you love
4) Strike out the books you have no intention of ever reading, or books you read but didn't like.
5) Reprint this list in your own blog so we can try and track down these people who've read only 6 or less and make them read more.

1. Pride and Prejudice - Jane Austen
2. The Lord of the Rings - JRR Tolkien
3. Jane Eyre - Charlotte Bronte
4. Harry Potter series - JK Rowling
5. To Kill a Mockingbird - Harper Lee
6. The Bible
7. Wuthering Heights - Emily Bronte
8. Nineteen Eighty Four - George Orwell
9. His Dark Materials - Philip Pullman
10. Great Expectations - Charles Dickens
11. Little Women - Louisa M Alcott
12. Tess of the D'Urbervilles - Thomas Hardy
13. Catch 22 - Joseph Heller
14. Complete Works of Shakespeare (cannot tahan)
15. Rebecca - Daphne Du Maurier
16. The Hobbit - JRR Tolkien
17. Birdsong - Sebastian Faulks
18. Catcher in the Rye - JD Salinger
19. The Time Traveller's Wife - Audrey Niffenegger
20. Middlemarch - George Eliot
21. Gone With The Wind - Margaret Mitchell
22. The Great Gatsby - F Scott Fitzgerald
23. Bleak House - Charles Dickens
24. War and Peace - Leo Tolstoy
25. The Hitch Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy - Douglas Adams (i borrowed this and then didn't have the timeeeeee!)
26. Brideshead Revisited - Evelyn Waugh
27. Crime and Punishment - Fyodor Dostoyevsky
28. Grapes of Wrath - John Steinbeck
29. Alice in Wonderland - Lewis Carroll
30. The Wind in the Willows - Kenneth Grahame
31. Anna Karenina - Leo Tolstoy
32. David Copperfield - Charles Dickens
33. Chronicles of Narnia - CS Lewis
34. Emma - Jane Austen (if you count excerpts)
35. Persuasion - Jane Austen
36. The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe - CS Lewis
37. The Kite Runner - Khaled Hosseini
38. Captain Corelli's Mandolin - Louis De Bernieres
39. Memoirs of a Geisha - Arthur Golden
40. Winnie the Pooh - AA Milne
41. Animal Farm - George Orwell
42. The Da Vinci Code - Dan Brown
43. One Hundred Years of Solitude - Gabriel Garcia Marquez
44. A Prayer for Owen Meaney - John Irving
45. The Woman in White - Wilkie Collins
46. Anne of Green Gables - LM Montgomery (and the rest of the series as well :D)
47. Far From The Madding Crowd - Thomas Hardy
48. The Handmaid's Tale - Margaret Atwood
49. Lord of the Flies - William Golding
50. Atonement - Ian McEwan
51. Life of Pi - Yann Martel
52. Dune - Frank Herbert
53. Cold Comfort Farm - Stella Gibbons
54. Sense and Sensibility - Jane Austen
55. A Suitable Boy - Vikram Seth
56. The Shadow of the Wind - Carlos Ruiz Zafon
57. A Tale Of Two Cities - Charles Dickens
58. Brave New World - Aldous Huxley
59. The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time - Mark Haddon
60. Love In The Time Of Cholera - Gabriel Garcia Marquez
61. Of Mice and Men - John Steinbeck
62. Lolita - Vladimir Nabokov
63. The Secret History - Donna Tartt
64. The Lovely Bones - Alice Sebold
65. Count of Monte Cristo - Alexandre Dumas
66. On The Road - Jack Kerouac
67. Jude the Obscure - Thomas Hardy
68. Bridget Jones' Diary - Helen Fielding
69. Midnight's Children - Salman Rushdie
70. Moby Dick - Herman Melville
71. Oliver Twist - Charles Dickens
72. Dracula - Bram Stoker
73. The Secret Garden - Frances Hodgson Burnett
74. Notes From A Small Island - Bill Bryson
75. Ulysses - James Joyce
76. The Bell Jar - Sylvia Plath
77. Swallows and Amazons - Arthur Ransome
78. Germinal - Emile Zola
79. Vanity Fair - William Makepeace Thackeray
80. Possession - AS Byatt
81. A Christmas Carol - Charles Dickens
82. Cloud Atlas - David Mitchell
83. The Color Purple - Alice Walker
84. The Remains of the Day - Kazuo Ishiguro
85. Madame Bovary - Gustave Flaubert
86. A Fine Balance - Rohinton Mistry
87. Charlotte's Web - EB White
88. The Five People You Meet In Heaven - Mitch Albom
89. Adventures of Sherlock Holmes - Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
90. The Faraway Tree Collection - Enid Blyton (liked it a long time ago)
91. Heart of Darkness - Joseph Conrad
92. The Little Prince - Antoine De Saint-Exupery
93. The Wasp Factory - Iain Banks
94. Watership Down - Richard Adams
95. A Confederacy of Dunces - John Kennedy Toole
96. A Town Like Alice - Nevil Shute
97. The Three Musketeers - Alexandre Dumas
98. Hamlet - William Shakespeare
99. Charlie and the Chocolate Factory - Roald Dahl
100. Les Miserables - Victor Hugo

wahaha so few. i don't read many classics, modern or not. and some of them are due to LA in secondary school. and i've read some of them when i was young but they were rewritten for kids so it's not counted. (like dracula)

nevermind! this shall be part of my borrowing list for the holidays! :D