The Forerunner Times

"A life journal by Nathan J. Elias, called under God's grace to be His forerunner and restorer for His glory."

Watch the Music Video on Youtube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CjYRiTQ6rv4
Death Note the Movie - Image Gallery: http://moviessearch.yahoo.co.jp/detail?ty=ph&id=324357

New Death Note Movie Trailer Link (High Resolution, 27.5 Mb, Quicktime MOV format):
http://movies.apple.com/movies/jp/movies/wb/deathnote/deathnote_trailer480.mov

Shikao Siga - Manatsu no Yoru no Yume (Midsummer Night’s Dream)

People crying… people missing… people dying…
They lost the ones dear to them… the ones they love… the ones they care for…
Three thousand lives… gone in a flash… in an instant moment when they were in deep slumber…
Tsunami, earthquakes, bombs and maybe later volcanoes… will it ever end?
WHY THE HELL DOES THIS HAVE TO HAPPEN TO MY COUNTRY??!!!

This post is dedicated to the victims of the Yogyakarta Quake. In a 5.8 (some reports say 6.2) Richter Scale quake, more than 3000 people at the moment I am writing this post died, many more are injured and missing. Even some of my friends are missing, although some are safe and we have to be the thankful for that. I do not know why this have to happen, as if Indonesia is a country waiting to be slaughtered by nature. But no, it was not just Indonesia. The U.S were also heavily damaged by the hurricane Katrina. Maybe the right question to ask would be why the hell is this happening to the world? One friend once asked me if there is a safe place in Earth. The answer is no. Death awaits you in the corners, there is no telling when and where your time might be up.

These scenes reminds me of the Book of Job, how must he felt when this too happened to him long ago. I pray for the strength of the people, whose homes and families have fallen. I pray for my friends, hoping for their safety, as right now there would be no more joy than knowing that they are safe. I pray that the voices of the world, no matter how small it is, will not be left unheard. Naldo, I hope that you will be safe, you and your entire family. Mima, thank God you are safe. Josh, thank God you are in Jakarta now and is unharmed, but I pray for your family, friends and relatives, they will be safe, trust Him. More importantly God, I thank You that my family in Surabaya is safe, my friends in Jakarta are safe, and for those other lives you have taken care of, I thank You.

God, are you listening? These people are crying…

This Sunday, there will be a lot of people praying. Can you hear us, God?

As I write this post, a large pool of tears is swelling in my eyes. I better not continue further…

I see trees of green…….. red roses too
I see ‘em bloom….. for me and for you

I see skies of blue….. clouds of white
Bright blessed days…. dark sacred nights
And I think to myself ….. what a wonderful world.

Yeah. It would be good to just be able to relax and zone out to the sky like that, I know, but sadly the main point of that song is to describe how slow is the pace of things going on right now. Last semester it was a hectic and busy like hell time, but now the things have slowed down considerably that I can even say that it’s almost like listening to DJ Tiesto’s trance music, then suddenly switching to this Wonderful World song… it’s like the world is changing in a flash.

You know I told you about my Data Management class last time. Well the other class, Enterpreneurship and Risk Management is not as boring, but to be truthful, these two classes poses no challenge like last semester. That last semester we were almost breathless and eating our hearts out working on the assignments. True, it’s hard work, but challenging and mostly fun. In the end of the day, we went with a big smile, knowing that our S$ 23,625 didn’t go for nothing, but truthfully that Data Management class almost made me want to sue my money back (just divide the previous amount with 12 and you’ll know how much I spend on a trash class). The assignments are plenty, but there’s no fun in doing that from what I can see. On the Data Management I can just go with the SMS application topic from my thesis, and for the business plan in the Enterpreneurship class, it will be more challenging but Aadith would take care of everything with his fiberglass company data, so it’s maybe a no sweat semester this time.

So, yeah, I’ll just click on the skygaze mode and enjoy myself then. I’ll just go the movies as there will be a plentiful of them to watch soon, hang out with my friends to play football on the green field of Redhill (next by the MRT station - so passerby and people in the MRT can see us playing) and do more fun things that I didn’t get to do last semester. And maybe I will be able to say to myself now… what a wonderful world…

Watch List: X-Men The Last Stand, probably next Monday with Ari, or I’ll ask Aji when he’s available.

There are some things in life that you cannot avoid no matter how hard you try to run from it
The harder you try to run, the harder it will try to chase you and tackle you down with it
The same things happen to me during the great IT chase, trying hard to distance myself from it
Guess my skeleton is all 0s and 1s, my entire body made of bits, I’m a B.I.T, being of IT
– The Great IT Chase, 2006

The first class of this term, the Data Management and Information Technology turns out exactly just like how I expect it to be. Led by a lecturer from the IT field, the lecture soon becomes too IT inclined and not too suitable for business student and in the end made it very boring and lifeless for them. Even on the first assignment, we are required to write a 2500-pages essay and 15-minutes presentation on a topic. Among the list of about 20 or so available topics, me, a Bachelor of IT student myself, do not know more than 4-5 topics and even then I don’t have a firm understanding of the topics either (those I knew I heard about it back on my BIT days). I can imagine the frustration of the business guys, not knowing much about this topic and it being senseless and no use of them either, suddenly being told to make an advanced assignment on IT…

I have sent an e-mail asking the lecturer if I can do a topic on SMS applications instead, since it’s my thesis anyway and I have made quite a bunch of those stuff, though not quite successfully, I have quite a background information on it should I decide to make it. Next is the team problem, this is a team assignment so I should be looking for members. It turns out that Silvia’s group is on this class too, Ajay Kumaran is gone but Peter is still here though it seems like he has his own team for now. Hopefully by the time the lecturer gives his say to my topic suggestion, I can finalize my team too, it’s all up on this Wednesday.

Tomorrow is Enterpreneurship and Risk Taking. Let us behold what it may bring… *prepares beds and pillows* (hope not)

Midori no Hibi
“Midori Days” in English

What if the girl who loves you suddenly becomes your right hand? The story revolves around a girl named Midori. She was a girl that was secretly in love with “Mad Dog” Sawamura Seiji, but because she was shy, all she could do was to watch him from afar and she was never able to confess to him directly. She kept on wishing to be able to be close to Sawamura, until one day the wish was granted, that she actually became Sawamura’s right hand. Initially this caused a lot of problems for Sawamura, as he is a bad-ass fighter known for his Devil’s Right Hand, and now that her right hand has become Midori… well you’ll have to see that for yourself. The story spans along 85 chapters divided to 8 volumes in the manga, called “days”, but actually one chapter can last more than one day. The genre is comedic romance, and this will make you laugh and cry during the time you read it. 8 volumes may seem short, but it was perfect and the ending was greatly moving.

One of my friends had this a few years ago (this manga was started in 2003 and finished in 2004) but at that time I wasn’t interested so I didn’t copy it from him. Yesterday after finishing 20 chapters of 20th Century Boys I downloaded and read all 8 volumes, and I was greatly moved that I couldn’t help to cry a lot, especially in the chapters nearing the end in volume 7 and volume 8. The ending made me cry when Midori made a decision that could change their relationship forever and Sawamura was… phew, I don’t think I’ll spoil the best part of the manga here, go download it yourself and enjoy it yeah? You can take it from the Lurk Manga Archive (link on the right) if you got IRC.

There was a lot of things to think here, while it does not go into something deeply philosophical, the ponderings of the characters are still good to watch and might led you to a deep thought yourself. While Midori is 24/7 with Sawamura, sometimes Sawamura doesn’t see her at all and there are other girls trying to get him too, namely Lucy and Ayase, while Sawamura himself is still looking for girls. What is true happiness? What do you have to sacrifice for it? Where does your true home lie? What is true strength? Those are the questions that you will find the answer in this manga.

All in all, it is a good read and I recommend everyone to get it. It might one of of the better if not best romance stories you’ll find in a manga, and a quite realistic one actually despite the title, not like some kind of fairy tale or they live happily ever after kinds of girly mangas you’ll usually find lying around (no offense meant here). Read it, and if you have, give me some comments and thoughts about it.

Finally the first study block is officially finished with the Human Relations in the Workplace exam last Friday afternoon. Well, the essay questions were not hard, it is one case study essay and one topic essay. Both should approximately reach 2000 words, but since I can’t write fast (weakness from high school, most of you probably know this) I could only write about 1200-1250 words, didn’t really counted but since I wrote only 4.5 pages, while others wrote mostly about 8 pages (one even went 11 pages), there’s a huge difference there. In Indonesia though I managed to get good grades with lesser words, and I try to get right through to the point, and I hope my grades would hold on fine for me on this one too.

Next Monday, the next study block will start with another two subjects: Data Management & Information Technology plus Enterpreneurship & Risk Taking. I hope that first subject won’t be anything similar to my IT days back then because I would be very bored and pissed if that is the case, oh well we shall see that on Monday morning, check back for updates people. I guess another busy two months will come before I can get my holiday to go home in mid-July.

Meanwhile, it is quite sad to know that some of the Guys from the Sixth Floor - a term for us IT freaks who always carry laptops and sit for hours on the sixth floor for wireless internet - have completed their studies and will not be in the next class with me. I’ve had a great time with them, especially Ajay Kumaran and Peter Ding Yuan Sheng, I will miss you two greatly soon enough, for the next 8 months without you two in the sixth floor, I will surely miss you guys always sitting next to me and chatting around with me (though not too much, admittedly). We played Counter Strike together and had fun, I would certainly miss those moments soon. Thanks for all the great memories you’ve given me in this short time.

I hope for the next term, there will be some new friends for me. And as you have given a shine on my life with your presence, so shall I give my light to others too, by being a good friend and a good comrade in fun and in study, so that the friendship all around the campus and especially among the sixth floor people will not die.

Here’s just one simple song I want to give as a farewell…

Night comes down upon the earth, and I’m hurryin’ home
Night around the world, the entire world is all hurryin’ home
I’m still talking about them, things that happened 5 years ago, 10 years ago
And I pray that these days will continue for you, forever and ever

Most people were furious when Nintendo changed their next console’s name from the codename Revolution to a final name of Wii (pronounced “we”), calling it a sissy name. But Nintendo insisted that it carried the soul and mission of the entire Nintendo crew and finally at E3, it stole the show and beat PS3 and 360 out of the limelights with its creative design and innovative controllers, the oh-so-lovable Wii Remote (dubbed Wii-mote) and Nunchuks controller.

What surprised me though, was the size of the thing itself. I got this picture from VGI yesterday and you can see for yourself, while the 360 and PS3 are bulking huge, the shy little Wii is so small, that the official Nintendo Wii website said that its size was roughly the same with three DVD cases stacked. The prices are also kept as minimum as possible, while PS3 is priced at $500-$600, Wii would be priced at about $250-$300 estimated (the final price tag isn’t there yet). Considering these facts, I will most probably buy a Wii before I buy a PS3, considering Wii also have an impressive title lineup, including exclusive Final Fantasy and Dragon Quest titles.

I still remember the days when I want to play Winning Eleven in my friend’s house, I have to unplug everything, carry the bulky PS2 all the way to my friend’s house, plug everything, play, and basically do the same later after the game session ends. With Wii, carrying the console won’t be a hassle, and since everything is wireless by Bluetooth, I dare say that we can even consider Wii to be a semiportable console, meaning you can bring it everywhere and play it anywhere and with whoever you like, living to the “we” philosophy itself. I can’t wait to get this console in my hands, it will surely bring a lot of good time and enjoyment for gamers out there in the world. If choosing between a PSP and a Wii, which will roughly have the same price, I’d choose Wii any day.

People’s opinions have even been swayed, those who were loyal to PS3 now swayed to the Wii path. Even Sony and Microsoft officials say that Wii is a good console to buy. Peter Moore from Microsoft said, “Tell me why you would buy a $600 PS3? People are going to buy two [machines]. They’re going to buy an Xbox [360] and they’re going to buy a Wii … for the price of one PS3″. While Phil Harrison from Sony responded, “I haven’t had a chance to check out the Wii myself, but Nintendo has a great history of innovation and has always done great things for gaming and long may they do so. But as it relates to our strategy they are very much in a different market. I think Peter Moore is exactly right, I think Nintendo will be the second system consumers purchase after PS3″. Hahaha, they just don’t want to lose their face when the fact is they must be very afraid of Wii now, so they’re saying things like that.

I simply can’t wait.

Image Gallery:
The Wii Remote (Wii-mote) Controller
The Nunchuks Controller connected with a Wii-mote
The Wii Console Details, Specs and Images
The Wii Controller Details and Images - How It Works

Official site: http://death-note-movie.com
Trailer: http://movies.apple.com/movies/jp/movies/wb/deathnote/deathnote_trailer480.mov (Hi-Res!)

Some of you might have known of the Death Note manga, created by Ohba and Obata, which have just reached its finale in chapter 108 (won’t spoil the story for you though). The news of the movie has been circulating around the net and finally the poster and the trailer is out. From what I can see, it is wicked cool and fits the detective action drama horror thriller genre perfectly. It contains all the events from the L arc from the founding of the Death Note by Light, the Lind L. Taylor and L introduction event, Raye Penber and Naomi Misora murder and all the way to… nah I better not spoil all the fun for you.

The first part of the movie (L’s arc) will come out next month, and I hope someone will be able to quickly give us the English subtitles so we can enjoy it the same way we did with the Final Fantasy VII Advent Children. The manga may end flat and bad, but the first part, Light vs L was the best mind game that you can find in any manga, so I’m expecting this to be good, and I am not even the slightest bit interested on the second part, Near and Mello can die for all I care, the one I care most is only L. And I didn’t imagine his scrambled voice to be like that… ugh.

Some people have been complaining about how Tatsuya Fujiwara (don’t mix it with Takumi Fujiwara, the Initial D AE86 guy, okay?) is not fitting to play Light, but well, who can play Light then? He is a damn cool psycho killer maniac that is also handsome and sexy. From what I see, Tatsuya might be able to play this good, and although the cast don’t look as good as the manga counterparts (admit it, the manga style makes it hard to impersonate in real life, even the cosplayers are having a hard time impersonating L), their acting would be what makes it count.

Rrrgh… can’t wait for it, and it seems that it won’t be released internationally, so must be patient for downloads.

The Road That Ends Here will tell you the summary about two months of my life in this Merlion country. It will have six chapters, corresponding to the six terms that I will endure in this one year. The idea about the title comes from a journey to hike a mountain. I imagine that getting my master degree is like enduring a long mountain path. Between the summit and the peak, there will be five stopping points to rest and regain strength (this is Chapter I through Chapter V). After the five stopping points, if I still endure, then I will reach the peak and reach my final destination (Chapter VI). Enjoy these stories and may the tales bring you new strength and encouragement to reach your goal.

Chapter I

The first stopping.

For about two months now I have endured things that never before I encountered in my life. It is hard being a leader for a band with so much difference within. All these times in my life, I have been leaders, yes, but those in my band are usually of the same age of me, or share the same way of thinking, since we came from the same place and we usually share a common goal and vision. And most of the time, they have recognized me and my principles so it is not that hard to lead them to the end. But here, I am assigned with trouble. Four people, two from a different place than I was, and all of them were older. Especially one, was a person who have worked long, called herself a professional, and refused to listen to what I say, doing things with her own ways and ideas, which in the end, broke the team union because only her work is different from the rest, as she do not wish to follow the team standards.

Imagine having a 80-slides presentation where about 10 pages look different because she doesn’t want to use the same font style and colorization that is present on the other 70. This was giving me headaches and now I am glad everything is over. I don’t know how I will fare if I have to put her into my band again in the future, but I hope not. But it was a good lesson for me and my leadership, now I know how hard it is being a leader of a diverse team members. Now I know how hard it must be for my friends to be leaders in the youth and in the choir, with so much different types of people, age, gender and personalities. In the future, if I am to join a large enterprise, these kinds of things would be for me to handle anyway, so it’s good that I can learn to be this kind of leader from now, so it will not be too late.

Other than the leadership issues, the only troublesome thing was the barrage of assignments, leading me to write about 100 pages of essays in one month alone. My final grades for that one class is predicted about 70%, not too good. For the other one, I will be having the exam on this Friday, so we shall see whether I will be able to hit the marks or not.

In the meantime, time to rest, download some mangas and stuff. I have downloaded about 4 GB of manga including Gantz, Blade of the Immortal, Hellsing, Vagabond, Akira, One Piece and Initial D. If you have any good mangas to suggest, do tell me. And if you’re looking for the place to download mangas, check the “Lurk Manga Archive” on the right, they got everything, as long as you have IRC.

Related Links:
The Road That Ends Here, Chapter II (July 2006)
The Road That Ends Here, Chapter III (September 2006)
The Road That Ends Here, Chapter IV (November 2006)