I havent posted here in ages…like ages. I’ve said it before, this is where I write my thoughts when I see the need to do so, but recently I’ve discovered something, something I thought everyone was able to do, but apparently not: Im able to focus and organize my thoughts in my brain without actually writing it out, meaning I havent had much to use my blog for.

With that in mind, what’s up? My 160 video (Yes, Im ACTUALLY working on it). The music’s done, the intro’s done, and those who have me on msn will see the updates in how much of the video is currently made (in seconds).

Everytime I sit down to make a video, I struggle ALOT with what Im making, as I’ve often found it so hard to make something that has value. If I wanted to, I could make your typical maple video, with the 5 minutes of action sequences, and for some time, I was really thinking about doing that, similar to what I did for portions of my 120 video. However, the more I thought of it, the more pointless it seemed; the more it seemed as if Im better than that, that doing such a thing would be a disappointment to G4 (whom, to this day, even if we havent talked in ages, I still HIGHLY respect).

I watched my 120 and 70 videos again the other day, and the first thought that came through was “wow, they’re horrible”…yet so many people still like them. It makes me wonder, what I can do if I were to make a REAL video worthy of all my efforts. That is what Im working towards now. G4 has always mentioned that my music is my video’s “saving grace” and while I should take that as a compliment as a musician, I dont want it to be so. I want to be an all around director who produces videos (and really, many of the truly talented directors have disappeared).

I pulled up his article on my 70 video on empathy, and it’s amazed me how much I’ve forgotten from there, how much more I understand the article now than when I read it a year ago. What am I able to make? What am I able to present? Time will tell, I suppose, and for the audience who’ve waited a year and a half for this trilogy finale (I was thinking 120 video last February, lol), you’ll finally see something, something that not only has meaning to me, but something that has meaning to you.

After reading G4’s article again, I realized that an action sequence isnt what Im looking for, but something with more meaning. How will I get there? I have no idea. However, I have discovered a treasure mine in ElementFour, G4’s private study. I dont think he uses it anymore, but I certainly learned alot reading through there today and will think again.

This post was really to give whoever still reads here a small look into my mind and how I operate. It’s not something that can be simply explained but I’ll put it this way: I believe that my video is like a puzzle; the pieces are there already, I just have to assemble them. However, the hard part is often in the assembly of it. I feel Im struggling to find pieces that fit together, or find pieces I’ve lost, but I promise and guarantee, I’ll finish this puzzle one day, and the product will be out there for you all to see.

I’ll finish off with this note: I was just thinking the other day and finally decided to see what this “Twitter” I heard so much about was. After taking a look and seeing it, I realized something: Twitter would’ve been awesome for me: quick, simple updates for my “fans” or those who look forward to my video to see progress. I could update it with how my movie is coming along, how close to completion it is…useful information, none of that “I ate bacon and eggs for breakfast” crap. Then again, I’ve lost all the following for my videos I’ve had, so there’s nothing to really put up anymore. Times have changed, as have the way maple videos are seen and the way they are produced. We’ll just go with this abandoned blog for now and go from there.

Till then,

~Jackk

And what will it hold in store? Hard to believe, but its been a year since that video contest and nexon hasnt made anything with a worthy prize since…Oh, and the t-shirt still hasnt arrived nor will it ever.

With that in mind, what does this year hold? Will there be another video contest to give me a chance to defend my crown? How will these KMST updates affect us (Marksmen are catching up to my precious hurricane D: )? What other new things are in store? Time will tell and we shall see tomorrow. Till then, good night. 155, 83%!

Hmmm, its been a month since I visited my blog and a month since I took a look at other people’s blogs. Today during the security check or whatever they call it, I decided to take a look around and see what I find. Zankarst’s blog is completely dead, iangelial has some OVA series coming about and many of the blogs are… well just dead and unupdated. However, two blogs gave me some inspiration, gave me some motivation, and well, they just made me feel good. These are the blogs of Anthony and Randy, more known by you guys as Uhai and ShyMayhem.

I admit school’s been hectic the last month. I was in a “I just want it to be over” mode and because of that, Ive neglected many things. Randy and I used to talk once in a while but we havent talked in the longest time and well… I never log onto aim so I havent talked to Uhai in ages. However, visiting both their blogs, I see that they’re both doing well. I see that Randy has turned his life around and Im happy for him. I remember talking to him last semester, and his life was going down the drains with adjustments to University and whatnot. However, it seems he’s figured things out. As for Anthony? Well, his blog is now filled with Bible Study material. I never thought it would take such a twist but both have seemed to find meaning in their lives, something greater to replace the role maple had in their lives. They both have something to live for, something to keep them occupied. For that, Im happy for them.

As for myself, Ive had a VERY hectic while. I definitely have purpose in my life, I definitely know the direction Im going in, but at the same time, I have no idea regarding the details, no ideas regarding the finer points. Im a person who loves to think, who loves to just sit back and let scenarios and brainstorms run through my mind. Perhaps that is my downfall as Ive always been hesitant to do anything and even when Im not hesitant, Im just… mediocre. For a few weeks in my life, I was just confused, annoyed, distressed but that’s over now.

I’ll start with April 12th, my baptism. Ive been thinking of getting baptized for the longest time. My parents have been asking me since I was 11 when I was going to get baptized but I had always realized that a baptism is a commitment between myself and God. I wasnt about to enter into a commitment I wasnt ready for, a commitment I couldnt keep. Its been a long ride, Ive fallen away from God, slowly come back and walked with strides of confidence in him and come to where I am now and I finally felt myself ready to make this commitment and did. The day of my baptism, I hung out with a few friends I had met on maple. Jason, Barry, Cindy and I went for Ramen at Parker, then went and watched Fast and Furious at the Richmond SilverCity. The movie was pretty good (even though Ive never watched the others so I cant really compare… but I did enjoy it so… yeah) and afterwards we went our separate ways. Jason and Barry gave me a ride to my church and as much as I hoped they’d stay, just to perhaps give them a view of what church is, they went home. However, Melvin, another maple friend did show up and stayed for most of it (though left before my testimony =P). What can I say? The baptism was what I thought it would be and I really appreciated all the people who came to watch it. Many people were surprised I was able to do my testimony in Cantonese as… well, Im more fluent in English and cant read Cantonese if my life depended on it.

With that in mind, I definitely dont regret getting baptized at the time I did. However, I felt that the timing definitely could’ve been better. School ended the Thursdsay before Good Friday and exams started right after Easter Monday. I had my piano jury on Tuesday, my Musicianship oral exam on Wednesday, a paper due Thursday and finals on Friday, Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday the week after.

The jury went well. I played my pieces as well as I could, and though I kinda messed up the sight reading, I was pleased with how I did. Then everything went downhill. For the Wednesday oral examination, I was studying the night before. Im a <pretty decent> student at the course so just studying the night before is enough. I took out the sheet and studied everything, then went to sleep. When I got to school the next day, 20 minutes before my exam, I realized I had studied the midterm sheet instead of the final one. They were the same color and I had picked up the wrong one and… yeah >_>. In the end, they didnt let me completely take the final so I was basically guaranteed a fail/withdraw (withdraw = a nicer sounding fail… and it doesnt look as bad on a transcript… it means you failed, but put enough effort into it that we dont fail you) and that ruined my day. I had no time to dwell on this because I had a history paper due the next day and had yet to start. Im usually able to write papers in a few hours, but this one took 2-3 times the length and I ended up sleeping at 5 am. I woke up at 1 pm, finished off the paper and handed it in at 3, 1 hour before the deadline.

After that, I still had no rest: I had 4 finals left still. The first was Music History. This was to me the most challenging exam as most of the exam was based on stuff discussed in class and because the classes were pretty early (9:30… shush, I know), I slept in and missed a bunch of them. I had no idea how to study for it and just slapped together as much information as I can and went in there and took the exam. The rest of the exams came by like nothing and I just went through the motions of taking them. Im a person who does my studying in class: By going to class, I gather and understand the concepts, and when it comes to study for the final, I just have to look over my notes once and Im set. With that, I entered my finals after an hour or two of studying and did relatively well (the grades arent out yet, but I know I did fine).

With all that in mind, I felt burned out. Hell, I WAS burned out. I felt dead and didnt want to do anything. I didnt want to face all this and took it as it came. I had considered taking summer courses but I had no idea what to take. By the time I did decide, all the courses were full. I was considering an English Literature minor/double major with my music and in order to do that, I would have to take English 220, a course that was full ages ago.

Miraculously, a spot opened up last night and I jumped on it so Im taking summer there now. As Ive said before, I have no idea where Im going, but as the steps appear in front of me, I’ll have the courage to take them and move forward wherever He leads me.

With that in mind, Im starting to see the direction in my life once more. The first is in a sermon two weeks ago. The sermon was regarding the topic of arrogance and pride and how to deal with it. This sermon really stood out to me and I still remember what it was about. It talked of humility and direction in life: My life belongs to God and he will lead me where ever he wants me to be.

Another thing was lunch today. I had lunch with a fellow Christian friend today and we talked about many things. He might not know it, but out of it, I got lots of encouragement. To be honest, I havent been doing devotions or praying regularly for the last two or three months. However, talking with him, seeing God work in his life, seeing the reassuring support that he gave me, it just encouraged me to work harder to serve the Lord. I know you’ll never read this, but thank you Peter, and thank the Lord for bringing you into my company and offering me support.

In the next few months, lots of church related music things are coming up: Singspiration for a Bible Study the last week of May, Praise and Worship June 6th, Gospel Camp Labor Day weekend. There are many things coming up and many things to prepare and while often times I might forget about it, the last few weeks has reminded me of the attitude I should hold towards this: Its not about me, its about the Lord. I have nothing to boast of, I have nothing to be proud of, for it is all given to me by the Lord. My role is to use what the Lord has given me to his glory and for the furthering of his kingdom. I will take this role with humility and diligence and work as the Lord wishes.

With that, I move onto the topic of Maple: As I mentioned at the beginning of this entry, Uhai and Randy have moved onto greater things. However, I still remain here. I honestly believe that there’s still purpose for me in this game. I know some of you will think Im crazy for thinking that religion can be related to this game, but the fact of the matter is, the people who play this game are real people: This is an outlet for me to reach others. I have been told by countless people that they have been inspired by my work, both in video format, music format and story. Ive always intended Retalion/ALastReprise to be a trilogy. Yes, many side stories have branched out from it in the form of the Anniversary video, the phoenix video, and the Tespia video but ultimately, it is a trilogy: Retalion, Reprise and Reminiscing Reveries. Retalion and Reprise have already been seen and Im sure most if not all of you have seen them and all tha’ts left is Reminiscing Reveries.

Reminiscing Reveries as some of you may know is the title of my collection of music (which one day, I still do intend to release). This is also the title of my last video. Ive thought of MANY plots for it and had initially intended it as a 130 video; the level that Retalion never reached. Then it was going to be a 150 video; marking the maxing of the bowmaster trinity (SE, Bow Expert, Hurricane) but my fraps footage from that died for some reason so I dont have it. That leaves me at… 160. What’s so special about 160? Nothing. And that’s exactly why it’s special, because it’s not special at all. Just as Im just another person, this is just another video. Ive been thinking through it, thinking up ideas, drawing inspiration, writing music (yes, I can do it again… kind of.. nothing like I used to, but it’s somewhat coming) and just plotting ideas. That being said, Im 154 right now so I still have a ways to go but it’ll definitely come. I’ll hopefully find time to gain these last few levels soon and go from there. When will you expect this by? Who knows. You’ve been waiting for the finale since I hit 120 last February so a few more months wont hurt. Hell, many people like Cindy have given up all expectations of it and I dont blame her and others. However, I do want to finish this and hope I will one day. When that day comes, I hope I wont disappoint.

That’s all I have to say for now, with that, I sign off for now,

~Jackk

and Im sorry for that, but many things have happened and whatnot and I just havent found the will/time to document it down here so I’ll go through a quick update of what’s happened in the last month or so.

Third week of February: “Reading” break. Its a yearly thing and its basically a week off of school for people to study and review and read and whatnot… I dont know anyone who reads during it. THat being said, its the one week in the year that I go crazy training during =P With that in mind, I went from 140-149 in those 10 days on a 10 day 2x exp card and some other short 4 hour ones.

Last week of February: I hit 150. I decided to pull everyone together and organize a good ole’ Eternia GPQ (guild I was in like a year ago that has died) so we went through it and I leveled but my fraps malfunctioned so I didnt get any screenshots.

In terms of maple updates, that’s about it. We’ve had two Vancouver zak runs now and Ive done various other things too, none of which really stands out.

With that, I’ll move onto what’s happening now:

In general, life just seems to be unraveling, slowly but surely. Everything seems to be going downhill and Ive been having that sinking feeling of hopelessness a lot lately. I feel like all the exams and whatnot are at one end of a tunnel  and time is moving towards this end and Im caught between, eventually going to be squished (I suck at describing things… just try to envision it… somehow >_<).

Ive gotten into quite a few arguments with my dad in the last few weeks over REALLY pointless things (such as skipping a class or two) and he’s thrown some of the dumbest responses at me. I dont really feel like getting into detail on it but it seems as if his long term disability and lack of going outside is putting him in a bad mood and he’s taking it out on me. And a few days ago, when my sister was looking for the camera batteries, she found some things that well… I personally didnt want to know about and have no idea in hell why he has them… I’ll leave it at that.

School’s been a drag lately too. I just dont feel like going at times and… yeah >_> Cindy and I had a midterm competition and we tied, both getting 89, 94 and 96 (though I pulled out some trump cards) and really, I should be thankful Im in no jeopardy on failing anything but some of my classes… Im not getting as high as I want to/should on them…Im not satisfied with my work and while I dont want to do it, I just have to keep chugging through it. The semester is coming to an end and the deadline for papers, projects etc. are starting to pile up. As much as I dont want to go through with that, I must. As for advisory for next year in terms of courses, I have Dr. Butler, a prof that is really bad at teaching. Im really dreading that because I dont think he’ll help or give me any direction towards things to take next year. There’s not much I can do about that but I guess I can figure that out later. Then there’s the issue of summer courses… do I want to take summer courses?

Which brings up the issue of summer. My theory is that I dont spend much and hence I dont need a job to pay for it, but at the same time, the rest of my family spends quite a bit and because my dad isnt working anymore, we’re apparently “running out of money”. I talked to my old piano teacher yesterday about lessons in the summer and she wants me to pay for it myself, which isnt possible <unless> I get a job, but I have no idea where to start looking or what I can even do and me being the person that I am and afraid of rejection, I really dont want to submit my resume somewhere just to get rejected or whatnot… guess it’s something I have to overcome but that’s easier said than done.

So… yup, my life is just a mess right now. Church is going alright for the most part and I still go weekly and whatnot, but with all this hanging over me, I sometimes dont feel like going though I keep telling myself I have to go no matter what and I do. Im not going just because of it, but Im getting baptized in 3 weeks so that’s something to look forward to though with everything hanging over me, I dont know if I’ll have the time to work out my testimony and whatnot.

With all that being said, there is an ounce of encouragement somewhere. I had to lead Bible Study on Saturday (as there was no one else to do it) and we looked at Mathew 27:45-47 (I think it was that) about Jesus’ crucifiction on the cross and how he said “My God My God, why have you forsaken me?” and the meanings of that and how it connected to Psalms 22. It was a good reminder that though things often dont go right and though often things are dark and dreary and we dont see any direction, God is still there for us, no matter how hard it is to see him. Ive told myself that its easier to say that after the fact than it is to believe that during the bad times, but I know I really have to. Then today when I was doing my daily devotions (which hasnt been daily at all… and strangely Ive fallen a full week behind), it talked of trials and how it brings about endurance.

As hard as it is to accept, these hard times are for my own good and will make me stronger and allow me to know God more. Even though everything seems hopeless and going downhill with no hint of when it will change, I have to keep fighting through this. And most importantly, I have to trust that God is still there, no matter how invisible he may seem during these times.

First of all, I dont really see a point to Valentines day and group it with Christmas (the consumerism version of it, not the true purpose of it). Why do you need a special day/time of the year to tell someone you love them? Why cant you do it every day in the year? Why do you have to be extra nice during December? Why cant you always just be super generous and nice?

Anyways, for those girls desparately trying to figure out what to get their loved ones for Valentines day, I have the answer for you! My friend Fab will help you by letting you delve into the mind of a guy! He was referring to Christmas and Birthday gifts but Im sure it’d apply to Valentines day too!

Now you know! Gas cards ftw! Happy Valentines day everyone!

First off, Happy Birthday Randy~ (If you still read here, that is =P)

I’ll try to be doing maple updates once a week or so… basically, whenever I have time. We start this entry off with some pap solos:

Two skillbooks from pap, both junk xD (Well, I sold the AR for 2 mill so… yay?)

Another junk skillbook

First Casa (2 below avg, lol)

I remember back in the day, finding the codar would be the highlight of any pap run and people would go hundreds of runs without finding a codar… well, I found 2 in seven runs xD

 this one is actually above avg. (+2 mag atk, +1 INT above) though I have no idea how much it sells for so meh, we’ll see.

I bet Idella (if you still look here xD) has a whole collection of these! Floating lucidias… fun!

I really have no idea… how do you use an elevator? You go inside and wait? ;O… moving on,

and we have our first 200 fire mage! Gratz Sharpy/Matt on 200~ (sorry I didnt come… I had a paper to write and a midterm to study for >_<)

And now for the “main course” of the posts… look for that in the next post~

Took me long enough, but I FINALLY decided to do something about my Sharp Eyes..After lots of thought and thinking, I bought a SE 30 book. A friend’s friend had one for 95 mill and she was able to get it down to 90 mill for me so I bought it to give it a try.

I bought the book off a mule named “GoodLuk”. Will his SE 30 indeed be “good luck”?

Apparently not. Oh the irony…Ive never failed a mastery book before and when I needed for the book to work most…it fails D:

Unsatisfied, I decided I wasnt going to stop there, that after failing one, I cant just leave it and not come away with SE 30 so my friend Fab decides to owl for me. There was only ONE more in FM and it was at 90 mill too in the Veng/Excellent FM.

So 180 mill spent on SE 30’s… will it all go to waste?

Good thing it didnt. At long last, I have SE 30 ^^

And that’s all for now, I hope everyone’s doing well,

~Jackk

Looking back, I realized I havent updated maple related things in 3 months, LOL

This leads me to wonder, where do I start? 3 months ago, where was I? Things happen in life all the time, the question is whether we want to place importance on them. With that in mind, I’ll try and sum up everything in the last 3 months without boring anyone (if there’s anyone left still xD)

3 months ago, I was using a 100%’d overall, and a borrowed 107 atk red arund, 3 months ago, I had just gotten my HT pendant. My equips still needed upgrading and this was the first upgrade:

This upgrade cost me 325 mill and Earl, being the cheapass he is (as if he needed more mesos *f3*, he’s scrolled like 4 overalls better than the one I bought already D: ), he made me buy arrows one by one:

Moving on, next we had skillbooks. A friend (Cindy) was papping in class one day and found Hurricane 30. I offered to buy it but she insisted I take it free,

I didnt screenshot it, but it worked, so all that was left was the leveling to get my hurricane to 21, which was what I wanted, as there’s an 11% boost from level 20-level 21 hurricane.

The first level towards getting to 21 hurricane.

Now that the overall was upgraded all that was left was the bow. Being the person that I am, Im VERY indecisive and stingy and it took ages to track down a bow that I thought was a reasonable price. In the end, I just settled for this deal here. I felt I overpaid but I some friends talked me into it at last.

The stats?

Its not the best in the world, but Im happy with it. I had to trade my 14 atk gloves for it but I bought 13 atks with nx to replace it (63k if I remember correctly).

Whee, fun! box in zakum!

With a new bow, I was able to level! I learned one thing during that level up: It takes phoenix FOREVER to kill squids D: They seem strong to fire or something and phoenix died before the squid did xD This was also the level where I LITERALLY got dc’d by a server check at 99.98%.

Many of you know, Ive been collecting nx for ages and not using my AP for the last few levels as well. Though I had enough to wash, I saved up, gambling that an AP reset sale will be on… I won this gamble:

Back when I started leveling this character, things like horntail and stuff werent out and INT equips arent as pro as they are now so I didnt really have much MP to wash with, leading me to MP wash. The hp gain was pretty dramatic:

3650–>4114 hp, which meant I finally had enough to solo pap and off to do that I went.

During this time, I trained Retalion, the 2x rogue as well and got it to 30. I was really iffy in trying to decide whether to make it a sin or a bandit but decided on bandit in the end:

And of course, there’s Paul doing what he does best… Can someone answer this question for him?

Back to Pap solos…

Some people would kill me for my luck. Brandish 30 on my 8th solo xD, the Barrage on my 4th… Yeah, in under 10 pap solos, I made 85 mill, lol. However, just because I have enough hp to take a hit from pap bombs now, that doesnt mean I can tank a 2nd body hit *f3*

This made me believe my choice of becoming a bandit is the right one (yes, I ran out of stars at 99.11% and had to use my fruit dagger to level up):

Okay, so I dont have enough hp to tank one of these, but I decided to give it a go nontheless. I went and solo’d my first bigfoot. It took 18 minutes and many heart attacks from watching it come uncornered to kill it:

I now also have enough hp for Manon and Griffey. Manons decided to drop me tonnes of skills…the problem? they’re all crappy skills (Im not going to need Phoenix 30 till Im like 180… whenever the hell that is, LOL):

The New Years Sack gave me a pretty scroll… I dont want to use it D:

And to finish things off…

People should REALLY hate me. That’s Barrage 30, Brandish 30 and a Codar (albeit 103 with no INT) in 11 pap solos… and of course, what happens on the next pap solo? I die xD A bomb powered up and kaboom’d in my face >=(

Wish fulfilled.

~Jackk

I’ll try updating maple once a week, provided I go on maple enough to warrant an update xD

It’s been almost a month since I posted on here and…well, hey, its the first post of this year! I’ve mentioned before, this blog is for me (as selfish as that sounds); its my place to gather my thoughts, my place to rant, my place to document what’s been happening as life comes and goes. I merely havent found time nor felt a need to blog so I simply havent.

The reasons for that? For one, I usually blog at school between classes on my laptop and as University students might know, December = exam/holiday month so I never really found the time to blog about stuff. Now that school’s started again, Ive finally found the time to get back to this habit of mine.

So what’s been happening in the last two months? Well, the year in review covered parts of it, but I’ll go over it nontheless.

December started with exams and with exams for the most part went by pretty decently and pretty well. The semester for the most part ended up decently as I passed all my courses and whatnot. It started snowing on the 13th and my exams ended on the 17th so the holiday mood was on. I started my holiday by grabbing lunch with a friend I hadnt seen in a few years (this friend was my archer role model back when I was the little 4x hunter with the vaulter 2000 and the dark piette set… I digress) at a mall in the next city. It was a far way to go in the snow but we didnt mind. We had Korean hot pot and just chatted about various things and afterwards just went home.

The day after that, I had my interview at church for my baptism. Everything went fine and I was set to be baptised on the 28th of December. Some time at the end of that week (I think) I met up with a bunch of maple friends. Well, it was like 2 maple friends and a bunch of their friends from maple. For the most part, none of us have met before (except for Jason, who showed up at my grad a few years ago) and after getting lost, going home, and going back, I chilled with them for around half an hour at McD’s. It turns out that three of them went to a church in Coquitlam that is the sister church of my cousin’s. I had gone to my cousin’s church camp last last summer so it turns out I had met them before… small world xD I also met Kevin (Dualwings) and Barry (Midpaced) and upon looking at my old screenshots, it turns out I remembered him (his ign, I never talked to him personally) and he was the famous, pro beta archer “FastPaced”. I found a screenshot of me standing next to him in sleepywood with his red hinkel and… yeah, the nostalgia D:

The week after, it continued to snow really hard, so hard that the baptism got canceled and so hard that I just stayed home all Christmas day and boxing day. This week, I also had some bad news. My Music History prof emailed me saying that I had used the wrong bibliography format and that I could redo my paper or otherwise get 50% on it. The next day, my laptop with my paper on it died and after some inquiry, it turned out to be the hard drive…again (yes, two hard drives in under two years, what crappy computers… Im never getting HP again). That means my paper was gone unless I could extract the data from my hard drive. I ended up doing that and finally did the paper in January and handing it in last week.

New Years Eve: For the first time ever, I went to a New Years Eve party. Yes, it took me that long but I usually spent it with parents and family and whatnot. We went out to dinner in Richmond (some hot pot place) to celebrate a friend who’s birthday was a few days before Christmas (We couldnt do anything because we were snowed in all week) and after that, we went to his house and hung out all night. We played Rock Band on his PS3 and 41 inch TV (yeah… he spent $2000 dollars that Christmas getting himself stuff, lol) and when New Years came, we gave him his cake.  We ended up sleeping at around 7 am and left the place at 3 pm the next day. I also had my first taste of alcohol that night/day. Long story short, I thought it was orange juice and they told me afterwards >_>

Some time between the New Year and the start of school, I met up with those maplers again. Becky was sick so Henry and Becky werent able to come. This time, Cindy and her friend Cindy and her bf showed up too. We were originally planning to watch a movie, then grab sushi but it ended up being just sushi. After that, we just all headed off our separate ways.

The day before school started, I met up with my high school friends. We have a mini-tradition where we meet up at the end of every semester and just hang out and catch up on how each of us are doing. We were all very busy this year so we didnt find time to meet up till the last day of the holidays. It was snowing really hard but we decided to meet up anyways. We ended up going Korean Hot Pot (yes, I went hot pot a lot over the holidays) and watched “The Day the Earth Stood Still” afterwards. It was pretty funny cause my friend goes to SFU and part of the movie was filmed there so at times, he would go “Oh hey, I remember seeing them film that!” The trouble started after the movie though. We all headed off our own ways to get home in the snow…except I couldnt get home cause there was too much snow so the busses stopped going. I ended up having to spend the night at a friend’s house and getting home at 10 am the next morning. Naturally, I skipped all my classes that day because I was lacking sleep and whatnot.

This brings us to school. For those wondering, I have seven courses, 1 tutorial and 1 discussion class this semester: Music Theory, Music History, Musicianship, Piano lessons, Concert Attendance, Medieval Literature and Philosophy 100. Im just happy I dont have math this semester cause… yeah, I didnt do so well at it last semester. For the most part, school has been going fine since Ive got my laptop back (really, school was really boring during those 2 hour breaks that I have so many of) except that today, I had a run in with a prof… can profs really tell a student not to go to their class? That’s new to me. I intend to discuss with a counselor some time or something but… yeah. Something doesnt seem right there.

Maple updates? I’ll do that next time. I will say this: I finally washed enough points into HP that I can solo bosses without dying and still have average AP in Dex/Str. As for the movie… its coming along slowly. Ive worked 19 hours on it and the intro is almost done so… look forward to that… soon! You should all take Cindy’s approach to it: I dont even expect anything from it anymore because it just keeps getting delayed.

I think Im starting to understand how nexon operates now and how they can possibly have all those delays. Either way, I hope to get that out asap and meet whatever expectations people have left for it.

This week is Super Bowl week and their Media Week has brought up an intersting idea that I quite like: Asking questions and getting answers. From now till the Super Bowl, whoever still reads here is allowed to ask ANYTHING they want and I will answer it truthfully.

Have fun with everything ,

Jackk

Ps. 21-17 Cardinals

Another year has come and gone and really, I wanted to post something on Christmas but time did not permit it so here we go, New Years Eve~

Many things have happened this year and at last, it’s time to look back on them, to close the book on another year and look forward to 2009.

January-Beginning of the 2nd semester of University, joined my church youth ministry music group

February-Patriots lose >=(, University reading break/power leveling from midnight-4am (way to spend my reading break eh?), 120, new laptop~

March-More school, skin starts acting up, friend drops out of University

April-Exams, exams, exams, Tespia, meeting up with high school friends, Cat’s Song sheet music released

May-Maple Story anniversary event…making of the 4th video (first one not part of the Retalion/ALastReprise series), more Tespia! + Tespia video (3rd video), youth Praise and Worship music event at my church

June-Birthday party from church friends (thanks guys, that was really wonderful of you guys), 3rd wave of Tespia, announcement of me winning the May Anniversary Video Contest (Dell XPS!), the birth of SouthPerry

July-Vacation Bible School volunteering, zen stone plus stops working (has it really been half a year without an mp3?!), Dell XPS arrives (no t-shirt, lol!), Phoenix Video

August-Church Gospel Camp @ Charis Camp-great campsite, great camp overall, just a great experience…skin gets better, Crimsonwood Keep, potential immigration to Windia, visited old high school (Carver)

September-Year 2! New piano teacher, new friends (a bunch of first years, a few second years, etc.), choir, level 130, 2 year composition mark

October-more school, HT pendant, midterms, midterm bet with Cindy with dinner on the line (I won 3-0 xD… You still owe me dinner at the Keg, Cindy!), elections, SE 20 worked (hard to believe it’s worth almost nothing now eh? =P), first piano master class of the year

November-School winding down, finals start, Brahms Requiem choir performance, Rays win the world series and… the Red sox are out >_<, Beginning of Exams, Visited Carver to help friend with music/say hi to teachers

December-Coffin of Regrets, end of Exams, Vancouver Maple meetup, lots of snow (hence why I didnt really do much of anything), Baptism (delayed to Easter), visited Carver once more, getting lost in Richmond for a Christmas party (lol), MUSC 220 Final Paper nightmare, laptop’s hard drive dies… AGAIN

It’s been quite an eventful year and lots have happened. Some call it fate, I call it God’s guidance. Things all just seem so connected. My computer being broken meant I couldnt win the 1000 maple points and chances are, if I won that, they’d probably pick another winner for the XPS, something of more value and something I needed A LOT more. Also, I managed to make a group of new friends at UBC Music, people who have things in common with me that I’d never imagine (other than music…for example, a bunch of them went to school with my cousin, lol) and hell, even at the December Maple meetup, I met people who knows my cousin (heck, we went to the same camp last year without knowing!)

This time of year is a good time to reflect on what has happened and see how things have come to be. Many call it luck and chance, but I see greater direction behind it; It all seems to make sense, the pieces of the puzzle seem to interlock. Sure there are still many uncertainties and who knows what the new year will hold, but whatever comes will come and I’ll deal with it when it does. Things I hope to accomplish in this year: Release that trilogy finale (finally!), get my laptop back (lol >_>), release the song “Let me Tell you a Story”, rewrite my paper to get a real grade (I have 68 right now D: ), do decent in school, release a good copy of music (more details on that later… I hope it can help pay for schooling and whatnot but that might be expecting much), baptism! (snowed me in, rofl)

To my friends at church, thank you for all the fun memories you’ve given me and hopefully many more to come. I hope I can actually show up to all the birthday dinners and whatnot this year!

To music group, thanks for giving me the chance to serve the Lord with you guys, for helping me develop as a pianist despite my inexperience and misgivings.

To my maple friends, both Windia and Scania, thanks for making this game fun and enjoyable, sorry I never ended up in Windia and I wish you all the best, as many of you have moved on with life.

To Victor and David (even though you two dont read here), we still have to meet up this holiday! Thanks for being good high school friends and Im glad we still keep in contact.

To my UBC friends, choir’s awesome eh? Sorry I was never able to show up to more of your performances but it was great knowing all of you and being in music together, especially Christian Music Fellowship. Thanks for helping me grow in Christ at school and outside of it.

There are some people who dont fit in any of these categories that I’d like to mention as well and they’re Royce and Peter. Royce, I hope our schedules allow us to meet up at UBC more often this year and gl with Pharmacy and PKAT. Peter, same goes for you, well our scheds actually match up quite well so hopefully I’ll actually be able to show up at your Christian meetings this term~

Well, that’s it for me. Im having dinner tonight with friends, then we’re heading over to a friend’s house for who knows what (first bit of drinking ever perhaps? xP Nah). I wish you all a wonderful holiday and all the best for 2009!

~Jackk

Ps. For those who do still read here, how’s your winter holidays been?