It's 2 AM here, December 25th, 2007, at the time of this writing. Just wanna wish everybody (that reads my blog) a Merry Christmas! :D

A few days before my birthday, I don't even remember how exactly, but I randomly looked at some websites for airsofting. Within a few minutes of that, seeing how there were many model guns (as in replicas of real guns), I decided to look for WWII-style guns, particularly the Karbinier K98 and the M1 Garand. However, since they're collector's items, I was dismayed by the extreme price tags on them. So I searched for the next best thing, and found that it wasn't all too expensive!

For the next few weeks, I went on various online and on-site shopping trips, and finally found what I was looking for.

Classic Army M14 Match, still in the box + a pack of BBs I bought with it.

Looking down the ironsights is awesome. It feels awesome to hold too. Nice weight distribution. Heavy but not too cumbersome that you can't run with it.

My sister's idea to take this angle. She's into photography, though we only used a digital camera so the image quality isn't so nice. I still like it though.

A very "classy" gun, as I always describe it. The M14 is a historic rifle in military history based off another historic rifle, which is one of my favorite rifles of all time (particularly in looks), the M1 Garand. The M14 saw action in Vietnam, and is still in active service today, particularly as a designated "marksman" rifle.

I have to say, this is one of the greatest contributions of the Japanese NEETs in the entire history of the great interweb. I've been listening to this song almost solely for the past four or five days. I'm in the habit of looping songs I like, and this is certainly no exception. However, this is even more special, because it's a medley of different songs that became popular in NEET circles. So it seriously doesn't get tiring. In fact, by the end part, I can't wait for the song to start over. It's awesome fun to sing along to (even if I only know about less than half of the references in this song).

Of particular note is one of my favorite parts of the song, which is the 思い出は億千万 song, somewhere around the middle. Omoide wa Okusenman, which means "110,000,000 memories", is a truly awesome song, which goes well with the theme of the entire medley. It seems to take you to some of the greatest, and maybe some of the most nostalgic, things the internet has ever spoken about, from both anime and gaming. This is including stuff ranging from Super Mario to Haruhi, from Final Fantasy to Prince of Tennis. From Megaman to AIR. lol

Additionally, the singers, a bunch of NEETs (I assume), or just plain fun-loving fans of such things and avid nicovideo.jp people, sound like they're having such a great time singing the medley. The song makes me happy listening to it, and really gets me going. Even the way it was arranged was awesome. It's so awesome that lots of people are making their own versions (just re-singing the same song with their own personal touches). There's a Haruhi version, featuring Nayuta who was also in the original medley. Nayuta is a voice-alike of Aya Hirano, the seiyuu behind Haruhi of The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya & Konata of Lucky Star. Actually their voices are so similar that it's kinda scary. D:

So anyway, I don't like the idea that I'm a NEET right now (but that'll change soon since I'm getting a job; I'm already practically hired but work doesn't start until January). I don't really like being considered an otaku. But somehow I forget all of that and just enjoy myself when I listen to this song. And somehow I can even say it's fun to be a NEET/otaku.

Anyway yeah. Just thought I'd share. There's various uploaded versions of it in NicoVideo (of course), YouTube, TokyoTosho and maybe other similar torrent sites. Take your pick on which flavor you like most. :D The version I'm listening to over and over is this one (may need to register/sign-in to NicoVideo to view it; if it's too hard I'll upload the flv file somewhere, though you can probably find it on YouTube by copy-pasting the term ニコニコ動画.

This is already old news for those in the know. I actually heard of it several weeks ago. But I kept procrastinating on making a blog entry on it, and I think it's about time to post.

Space Cowboy Online (NA/English service), one of the best MMOs of today IMO, is going down. As explained in the website, Gala-Net, the company that distributes/publishes SCO in NA was ordered to shut down their service, as another publisher was given the rights to publish it in North America. I applaud GM Xarfox and the Gala-Net fight for the rights of players, though. It's too bad that nothing could be done in the end.

Although I haven't played SCO in a few months, I have to say I'm going to miss it now that I know it's going down permanently. Somehow I feel that Ace Online NA will not be the same kind of place as SCO was.

Yesterday, during the last minutes of my being 23, I quoted lines from Coolio's old song, Gangsta's Paradise. It goes:

I'm 23 now but will I live to see 24?
The way things is goin', I don't know...

This was a legitimate question for me about 10 years ago, with the years edited of course. That time was the height of my rebellion, against school, against "the system", and against everybody. Those were dark times for me. At the time, I really didn't know what I was doing to myself, but it sure seemed like a good idea back then. Now that I'm older, and maybe a little wiser, I see now how wrong I was. I know I can't turn back time and take back any of the things I did back then, to my friends, to my schools, to my family, and to society. But I know I can make things better in the world by trying to help kids that may be facing similar problems as I did back then. And that's why I want to be a teacher.

I praise God that He's really helped me to grow. I should be really grateful that I've been plucked out from such a terrible lifestyle. I often take it for granted, but whenever I look back, I get mixed emotions and just realize how much better I'm doing now.

By God's grace, I really did live to see 24. When I started typing this entry, I was in the last minutes of my 24th birthday, and now I'm 24 + 1 day. My math may be slightly off, but that's about 8766.76 days. It's interesting to say that 24 years old is roughly 8765 days lol.

Anyway, it was a wonderful birthday. Just wonderful. We didn't do much, because I don't really like parties, but I can genuinely say that I'm truly happy. I've really been blessed, and I can feel it. I sometimes shed a tear or two whenever I think about just how much God has done for me. And I'm even happier to know that God is good to me, and always has been, and always will be, regardless of what I've done, what I do, and whatever mistakes I might make in the future. Truly, I'm unworthy of such awesome Love, but I'll gladly take it from Him!

I offer up this birthday, and the rest of this year to You, God. Thanks for allowing me to go through everything I did. May all my experiences and skills be used for the greater glory of your kingdom, even at the cost of my life. Because I owe You much more than that. I can never repay You, and I know I'll make a lot of mistakes, but I want to give my best for Your highest!