Question!

Sekai No Owari again. Hehe.

I didn't really like this song very much at the beginning; it sounds like a party/disco song after all. Even the name is Death Disco. I like it well enough to listen to it, but not like Anti-Hero or Dragon Night that I shared previously.

But after seeing the lyrics, I am so impressed that I really need to share it. I even went and copied the lyrics out of the "official" subtitles from the video that I linked above (it's on their official channel, so I suppose that it's their own translation, or at least an approved one), because the translation I found online was not good enough.

So here you go:

You don't believe in a God
In other words, you're an atheist
So whatever rules God has decided mean nothing to you

That's how it should be, but for some reason
You believe in somehing, you believe in a way of thinking
I don't know who taught you, but you definitely believe in it

You believe "life is a precious thing"
You believe "people shouldn't kill others"
But why?
"Because."

What do you believe?
Question.

Question. (×5)

You don't believe in a God
In other words, you're an atheist
You only trust what you can see with your eyes
Miracles by God are just some kind of fantasy to you

But you believe
You believe that there is a universe
You haven't seen it and you haven't been there, but you dream of this "universe"

You believe in scientists
You believe that "if something is scientifically proven, it becomes 'truth'"
But why?
"Because."

What do you believe?
Question.

Question. (×5)

You don't believe in a God
In other words, you're an atheist
So the difference between good and evil shouldn't matter to you

That's how it should be, but for some reason
You believe, you believe that evil shouldn't exist
You believe in the fact that the good inside of you wants to destroy evil

Justice, justice, justice, justice...
And you don't question any sacrifices made for the better good
But why?
"Because."

What do you believe?

Question. (×5)

As a comment on their Youtube video said, I don't really get why the title of the song is Death Disco.

It's a pity I don't understand Japanese, because otherwise I think I would probably appreciate a lot more of their songs. Some of the songs don't have subtitles, you see...so I just listen to them without knowing what they mean.

There is this other song which has rather good lyrics too: Tenshi to Akuma (Angel and Demon). But I'll let you read the subtitles on the video yourself... they're good but not to the point that I'm willing to type them out myself. Maybe because they are more commonplace. The "questions" above rather blew me away...

Dragon night

Yet another one.

This one, I liked immediately. Fell head over heels immediately. It is so catchy!

Dragon Night!



Again, lyrics are good!

Today is the day when the sun sets on our home
Finally the night we will come out to say hello, oh
The war that never ends still wages on today
But tonight the fight will stop and we'll celebrate

Everybody has their own version what's just
Maybe war is something that is natural for us
But even the people that fill me with hate
Have their reasons to live their life that way

Dragon Night, Dragon Night, Dragon Night
Tonight all of us will sing together like we're best of friends
Moon light, starry sky, fire birds
Tonight let's dance, everybody, until the sunrise

Today is the day when the sun sets on our home
Finally the night will come out to say hello, oh
The war that never ends continues for eternity
But tonight the fire burns to show that we've made peace

Everybody has their own version what's just
Maybe war is something that is natural for us
But the justice that I have come to believe in
Must be hurting others more than I can comprehend

Dragon Night, Dragon Night, Dragon Night
Tonight all of us will sing together like we're best of friends
Congratulations, congratulations, congratulations
Tonight let's dance, everybody, until the sunrise

Dragon Night, Dragon Night, Dragon Night
Tonight all of us will sing together like we're best of friends
Moon light, starry sky, fire birds
Tonight let's dance, everybody, until the sunrise

Dragon Night, Dragon Night, Dragon Night
tonight all of us will sing together like we're best of friends
Moon light, starry sky, fire birds
Tonight our war will end even if it's just for one night

It seems that the original version was in Japanese (you can see their performance on stage here), and the English version has slightly rewritten lyrics. I could only find the original Japanese lyrics to translate on Google, but it looks to have roughly the same meaning. This was their first single in English.

And since I'm on a roll, here's another song! In Japanese this time, so I guess I won't be sharing the lyrics (whew!). You can still see the subtitles on the video, though, just like the other videos.

RPG



Somehow all their music videos have all these weird characters... I think it's part of their signature.

Sound of silence

Another one!

SOS - sound of silence



I don't like this one so much, melody-wise... the fast part is nice but the slow parts are really too slow for my liking. However, the lyrics are good!

The best part is the verses I'm highlighting in blue. 

For you, I'll sing this song
Please stay, it won't last long
Years after we are long gone
The meaning will stay strong

Silence is what this song's about
Numb to the world all around
But I will sing of this place
Hoping it finds you some way

People needing to be saved
Scream out for help every day
But we grow numb to the sounds
And feelings slowly start to drown

The first time, we can hear a voice
But soon it all becomes noise
Fading to silence in the end
I know it doesn't make sense…

When sound all ceases to exist
People think that means happiness
And all the sounds that used to be
Are all just noise to you and me

The cries of help disappear
The silence numbs all of our ears
And when we stop listening
Those screams stop meaning anything

Don't you let your heart grow numb to everyone
Oh child, listen to the "sound of silence"
Saving someone else means saving yourself
It's true, and I'm sure you know it too

When you hear an "SOS"
Answering it becomes a test
It can give the life you lead
A meaning that you'd never seen

So don't resist a call for help
Cause in the end it will tell you
How to treasure yourself
And not be alone

It might seem a little strange
To share this song this way
But I know what I must do
Is share the meaning with you

All this I learned from someone
Who spent his life among
People screaming out for help
Doing everything to reach out

Don't you let your heart grow numb to everyone
Oh child, listen to the "sound of silence"
Saving someone else means saving yourself
It's true, and I'm sure you know it too

Don't you let your heart grow numb to everyone
Oh child, listen to the "sound of silence"
Saving someone else means saving yourself
It's true, and I'm sure you know it too
Now I'd like to thank you for staying by my side…

End of the world

Last night I heard a Japanese band called Sekai No Owari (meaning "end of the world") on a KKBox concert on TV. It was all by chance, but I heard this song Anti-Hero and I'm hooked!



I don't even know why I like it so much... but I just do.

[Edit 28th January]

I'm loving it! The lyrics are great too:

You know I don’t give a damn about what’s“right”
Or pleasing everyone around me
Cause I know this world that brought us life
Wasn’t made to keep everyone happy

The rules and laws that countries come up with
In front of me, they’re all shit
Cause there are people that I’ve gotta protect
And if you get in my way, you’re dead

You see I’m tired of trying to justify
Every decision that I make
If it’s to save the people that I stand by
You better believe what I say

“Stay in the lines, don’t make a scene”
Heroes try to tell us what’s right
But when push comes to shove,
you’ll know what I mean
I’m ready to start a fight

I’m gonna be the anti-hero
Feared and hated by everybody
I’m gonna be the anti-hero
So I can save you when the time comes

I’m gonna be the anti-hero
Feared and hated by everybody
I’m gonna be the anti-hero
Yeah

Righteousness is a thing that I hate
Cause it doesn’t do any good for anyone
And everyone thinks everything is OK
If they just obey

I don’t want to think about what they see
When they look up and see evil me
You see, love isn’t what I need
As long as I can set you free

Oh bum bum bum, watch out here I come
I said bum bum bum, you all better run
Oh bum bum bum, watch out here I come
So run！

“Stay in the lines, don’t make a scene”
Heroes try to tell us what’s right
But when push comes to shove,
you will know what I mean
I’m ready to start a fight

I’m gonna be the anti-hero
Feared and hated by everybody
I’m gonna be the anti-hero
So I can save you when the time comes

I’m gonna be the anti-hero
Feared and hated by everybody
I’m gonna be the anti-hero
Yeah

I’m gonna be the anti-hero
Feared and hated by everybody
I’m gonna be the anti-hero
So I can save you when the time comes

I’m gonna be the anti-hero
Feared and hated by everybody
I’m gonna be the anti-hero
Yeah

Copied from furahasekai
Source: http://furahasekai.com/2015/08/04/sekai-no-owari-anti-hero-lyrics-indonesian-translation/

It's like, hey, I'm going to protect those that I care about, whether it means breaking rules, whether it means that people will hate me. It's about principles, priorities. It's about caring. Even though I'm not a fan of the rudeness in the lyrics, the message makes up for it. So bum bum bum, watch out here I come...

Some people never let you down

Some people never let you down.

This can be due to two reasons. One, they are wonderful and you know you can count on them no matter what. Two, you have no expectations of them, so whatever they do, they cannot disappoint.

A limerick

I tried...
I tried.....
I tried.........
Not to check the math.
And failed.
It is correct.

-_-

The mystery of the vanishing ang ku

Two days ago, I brought some ang ku to work. Ang ku is a traditional Chinese kuih. (To know more, click here) I had received a little too many over the weekend, and I couldn't finish them all.

So I brought them to work, and told my team that they could come and have some if they wanted. Few people came for the ang ku... either there weren't many ang ku lovers there, or everyone was still full from breakfast.

And then... - *insert suspenseful music here* - when I came back from lunch, the ang ku had vanished, box and all!

The strange thing was not that there was no ang ku left. After all, I had told everyone that they could eat them up. The strangest thing was that the box had disappeared together with the ang ku, and that no one had left me a message to say that they had taken it!

Now the box that I used was one of those transparent microwaveable/disposable boxes that you sometimes get when you buy food outside... so it wasn't that big a deal that it went missing. (though I did plan to take it home and re-use it) So after asking my team via messenger (the office uses Google Hangouts) whether they knew what happened (no one did, apparently, or if they did they kept quiet about it), I gave up on it and dropped the investigation. ("dropped the investigation"... now doesn't that sound cool? :P )

But then, the very next morning the box turned up again, now devoid of ang ku. I could be mistaken, but I think it had been washed. (ang ku doesn't leave much trace behind, except for some oiliness... so it was a bit hard to tell for sure) Again, there was no message left for me.

So ends the story of the vanishing ang ku. The mystery is yet unsolved. Do let me know if you have any leads, and I'll re-open the case. ;)

Cheesy ham egg cups

A few days ago, I saw a video showing us how to make cheesy bacon egg cups. It looked really simple, with only four ingredients: bread, bacon, cheese, and egg.

So I tried it out... except that I used ham instead of bacon. 

The preparation - before baking

Done!

Official recipe:

Yields 6 bacon egg cups

- 3 slices of bread
- 3 Tbsp. shredded cheese
- 6 slices of bacon, cooked
- 6 eggs
- Salt & pepper

With a jar or cookie cutter, cut 2 circles into each piece of bread. Place in muffin tin cups. Wrap a piece of cooked bacon along the edge of each muffin cup—make sure the bacon is JUST cooked and still warm, so it doesn’t break or crumble. Sprinkle 1/2 Tbsp. cheese into each cup, then top with an egg. Season with salt & pepper, and bake at 400°F/204°C for 15 min (longer for firmer yolk). Top with green onion.

Even though I didn't bake it longer than 15 minutes, the yolk was no longer runny. And in one of the cups, the cheese actually bubbled up and spilled. :O (Just a tiny bit though, fortunately.)

Anyway, the end result looked pretty good (if I may say so myself). Although, seriously... it looks better than it tastes. Not that it didn't taste good. It did. (How can this kind of thing taste bad?!!) I'm just not sure the presentation was worth the effort... unless if you're throwing a party. *lazy person speaking*

And the thing is... it isn't that easy to eat, either. Maybe because I don't have a muffin tin, so I used individual cups that I lined with paper (muffin paper cups). The cups became rather soggy (I'm not sure where the moisture came from), so I had to be careful not to tear the paper cups or eat the paper! The bread was also soggy... so I don't quite understand how it can be done without paper cups, either. Maybe aluminium cups will do the trick.

Oh, and the seasoning... I really should have gone easy on the salt. Especially since my yolk was half firm... the salt and pepper were just on top of the egg, and how do you mix in the seasoning when you can't stir the egg? So I had a mouthful of salty yolk to start off each cup. Well, I probably didn't need any salt anyway, with the ham already being salty... Next time, black pepper will be enough!

1511

1511 is a number that is more or less seared into my brain.

It was the year that the Portuguese took Melaka. This year was drilled into my memory from all the exercises / multiple choice questions that we had to do in school.

Then a colleague got a car with that number plate. I never mentioned it before, but that made his car plate so easy for me to remember. We haven't worked together for years (both of us have left the company), but just last weekend, I saw his car again. I saw it near the market... I've seen him there before so I know he goes there once in a while (as for me, I go there very often because it's the market closest to my place). I didn't see him last weekend, but I saw his car, and I remembered it immediately. The only way I could have been mistaken would be if there was an identical car model with the same number, but different alphabets. Small chance.

And today, I see the number again.

Which is what prompted this useless post. :P

Solitude

I was reading Jodi Picoult's My Sister's Keeper, when I came across this sentence:

Let me tell you this: if you meet a loner, no matter what they tell you, it's not because they enjoy solitude. It's because they have tried to blend into the world before, and people continue to disappoint them.

Well, sometimes, knowing the alternative, solitude is preferable.

And sometimes the question is when, or for how long, is solitude preferable?

Just joking

Today I happened to be deleting a message from my phone (one of those advertisements) when a colleague passed by. He suddenly said to me, "I'm just joking, just joking yeah..."

I braced myself for some comment about my phone... but instead he asked, "Are you going for interview?"

I had forgotten that I had chosen to wear a shirt today...

You see, I sometimes take one of my formal shirts out to wear, because otherwise they would just stay in the closet forever. Seeing as our office dress code is "free dressing", and most people wear a t-shirt and jeans. And this particular colleague has always commented every time he sees me wearing something other than a t-shirt and jeans.

Sometimes I just give him an exasperated look, or a heavy sigh... which is why it started with the "just joking" comment.

Anyway... the conclusion here is that I get more comments on my phone than on my clothes. Since that was the first thing that came to mind... :P

The helmeted bears

A few days ago, I say two bears sitting on top of a lorry cab.

One bear was wearing a motorcycle helmet, and the other was wearing a hard construction hat. (Not sure whether that particular hat was hard, or a soft version made for a soft toy to wear :P ) I believe at least one of them was wearing clothes as well.

As with most teddy bears on lorries (some lorries have a tiny bear hanging on its rear bumper, or below the chassis, between the rear wheels), they were well worn (should I say weather-beaten?). I wish I could have gotten a photo, but since I was driving (I was on my way to work in the morning), the lorry passed way too quickly for me to capture the moment.

A new kind of meditation?

This morning I went to the market, and I saw a group of people doing some new kind of activity.

I usually park my car and then cross a small park to go to the market. In that park, there are sometimes people doing taichi/aerobics, and people playing games (a group of foreigners playing cricket, if not mistaken). Today when I reached the park, there was a group of middle-aged men and women doing some stretching.

On my way back, they had formed a row facing the bushes. (a zig-zaggy one, since the bushes were a  bit zig-zaggy) Each had their hands in front of them, palms together. The bushes were a bit taller than the average human, so they were each fully facing the bush, and fully blocked by the bush (if you're on the other side, of course)

As I walked past, I heard one of them (presumably the leader) saying, "Not just here, but people all over the world are doing this now!" And then, "Some people do this for at least half an hour!"

So does that mean that they are supposed to hold this pose for as long as they can? Strange activity... but if it's being done all over the world, maybe I'll hear about it some day...

Of pillows and keropok

The other day, my father bought a huge pack of Snek Ku pillow biscuits. You know, the ones that are puffed up like a pillow, and empty inside? (Just take a look at the bottom-right part of the photo if you don't get it.)

Click on the pic to see it bigger.

Anyway, what's interesting here is that the package has so many different snack names on it. Usually when you see this kind of printing on a package, they are for different languages. But all these were in Malay!

I know the pic isn't clear enough to see all the words, so here are the different kinds of snacks listed on it:
Keropok berperisa ayam
Keropok berperisa bercili
Keropok berperisa biji cili
Keropok 3 in 1 
Keropok berperisa ketam
Keropok berperisa udang
Keropok berperisa udang biji

And at the very bottom, just above the bar code, we see:
Keropok berperisa ketam

Why put all the descriptions/ingredients of different snacks on one packet that only contains one kind of snack? At first I thought they were using the same packaging for all the snacks, and this would allow them to do one-time printing for everything. But if the bar code and snack name is different at the bottom... it means they have to print the packaging separately too!

This is beyond my comprehension.

By the way, I really wonder... what is keropok berperisa udang biji?? Keropok berperisa biji cili is weird too... but at least you could assume that they use chilli seeds to give an extra "kick". Udang biji, on the other hand....

P.S.: I took additional photos of the packaging, actually... because I wasn't writing this immediately and I needed this for reference. I wasn't going to post them, but if my readers are curious enough and want more information... the ingredients can be checked below! :P

Pokemon round table

I mentioned in a previous post that I was going to make more cube Pokemon. But before that, I made some non-Pokemon first.

Cookie Monster
Even comes with cookies!

Winnie the Pooh
Looks a little strange... maybe because it isn't fat enough.
Time to eat more, to become more like big bro on the left. ;)

Now on to the Pokemon!

Charmander

Eevee
This one came with legs, like the Charmander above. But since Eevee is four-legged, I felt it looked better without standing on a "stool".

To have a better view of the tail.
This Pokemon was not well designed; the fur is different from the real Eevee's, and there is no actual place to slot the tail. Too bad, I made do with what I had.

Pikachu!
Another not-so-good design. The head's too big... The feet are nice enough for the body size, but with the huge head it just looks lopsided (can we say lopsided if it is a comparison between the top and bottom?).

A look at the tail

Another Pikachu!
This one has got better proportions :)

Also, a look at the tail!
I also like how they made the ears properly so that even the back of the ear is drawn! (and not blank like Eevee's)

Together with Jigglypuff
One of each Pokemon. Jigglypuff looks the best because it's just a balloon anyway...

Can't stop the other Pikachu from joining the party either...