HEART STATION

Time. Life. Death. These are things I cannot understand at all. Religion doesn’t help, science is incomplete everything else is useless… I don’t have a philosophy of how death is, be it if we’re going to live in never-ending darkness, feel our decomposing bodies be eaten by vermin, go to heaven or re-incarnated, I don’t know, and it freaks me out, since I don’t know if I should live my life like I want to, or if I should worry about my sins, since I don’t want to go to the bad side of the other side (If there is one, of course).

It’s really odd how time can be so slow and yet so quick… I feel like it was yesterday that I was being dragged out of the 1st grade A class because I was actually from 1st grade B and my teacher seem like she was mad, and here I am today, moving on to high school. I miss the days that I so eagerly wanted to pass and the days that I wished that I’d graduate and just move on, out of school turned into days I wish I would never leave, since I don’t know what awaits me.

This summer vacation, I spent a lot of time in the past. I took out old video games and downloaded old television series from when I was younger and I’m having a blast watching playing the games that I loved so much through elementary. I’m watching Cardcaptor Sakura all over again in Portuguese to better captivate the essence of time (Since I used to watch it in Portuguese before), and I forgot how much I loved it! I had some of the manga, even though I never read it, and it’s so good to return to the time when I was in elementary through the series.

I also have a list of songs that marked a part of my life that whenever I listen to that song, I remember how sad or how happy I was at the moment. I wish this will never go away. Some of these songs are:

As Horas (Marjorie Estiano) : Happy times when my sister bought Marjorie’s album and we’d listen to this song in recommendation of the lady that worked at our house and we’d bring the radio to the kitchen to listen to the song with her and she’d talk about the soap opera that the song was from.

BLUE (Utada Hikaru) : Last summer vacation, When my family and I were returning to Miami, I was roaming through a few song of Hikki’s and getting to become more familiarized with her music, and I came across BLUE. The whole trip was by car, and I fell asleep listening to it. When we got to Miami, I woke up and loved the song. It became kind of an anthem of Miami for me!

RAINBOW (Ayumi Hamasaki) : I was sleeping in the car listening to this song when my neighbor came crying to my sister and I and she told us about our dead cat. This song still has the depressing essence of death to me.

Nichiyou No Asa (Utada Hikaru) : This song reminds me of the beginning of my friendship with Cary and Sofy together and I used to listen to this song all the time with Sofy while we shared my iPod’s earphone. It was during the beginning of 7th grade and I remember that time with so much joy!

These are only 4 of the infinite songs that I have in my head reminding of moments that I was so emotional about. I love it when this happens, for I can keep the memory alive whenever I listen to the songs. This may not always be so positive, but through a certain moments, I can remember more moments. That’s why time is so strange to me. I don’t understand it, and yet, sometimes I do.

I’d like to add a video to this post that reminds me of the beginning of this year, back in August, when I wasn’t expecting so many changes in only one year. I love the song, and I love the moments it reminds me of. The name of the song is Sangurasu and it’s by Utada Hikaru. Enjoy!

Soon enough, Kuu will be releasing her new single, MOON, and I couldn’t be more excited. From the previews, I can expect an 8-tracked single that’ll blow my mind. The songs all sound magnificent and I’m not just saying this because I love Koda Kumi.

Speaking of great singles, Prisoner of Love, Utada Hikaru’s lastest single, was released today, and Prisoner of Love is already a marvelous track on its own, but the version that come along with it in the single are to make it perfect. I’m going to download it as soon as it’s available and enjoy it whenever I can. I bet this single is going to have great sales because of its popularity between the fans of the dorama Last Friends.

But now, coming back to MOON, to be released on June 11th, 2008. The single will feature American singer Fergie in a collaboration with Kumi for the the song That Ain’t Cool. Moon Crying is the only track from the single that has been released now and it’s an amazing ballad, one of the best I’ve ever heard in my entire life.

For the first two songs to ever be uploaded in This blog, I’d like to upload Moon Crying, by Koda Kumi in the name of my wonderful friend, Sofy! I don’t know the lyrics, but I like the mood that the song transmits… So I’m dedicating it to her, since I just heard that she won’t be studying in EAC anymore with Cary and I.

Moon Crying - 倖田來未

As the second song of my first uploaded set, I chose the lovely new ballad by Utada Hikaru, Prisoner Of Love, but this time, to celebrate her perfect new release, I decided to upload the new version of the song only available with the single, Prisoner Of Love -Quiet Version-. It’s an amazing ballad with the perfect blend of instruments like piano and violin with backing vocals and the wonderful vocal range of Hikki! I hope you like this song as well because I love it as well!

Prisoner Of Love -Quiet Version- - 宇多田ヒカル

There has been some time that I’ve been wanting to watch the first episode of the ‘dorama’ (Japanese drama, or soap opera) Last Friends and it took me a while just to find a download with hardsubs (Subtitles that come already placed throughout the episode), but I have, and I already watched it. This first experience with Japanese drama was very interesting and I love how even though it’s foreign, I can still sense similarities between this series and other American ones, and that’s great, because it makes the series much easier to relate to. But even though it’s similar to American series, I love the Japanese setting, everything is so beautiful even when it’s not meant to… Maybe that’s just me, but I love everything about it.

Until the first half of the episode, it’s like an introduction to the lives of the characters. There are five characters, and I’ll talk about each of them from what we see in the first episode:

• Aida Michiru: Michiru is a cute, innocent and adorable girl who is the main character of the series. The story follows how she returns to Tokyo and is in the process of getting used to it again. She moves in with her boyfriend, Sosuke, and meets her old high school friend, Ruka, and they begin hanging out again. Through Ruka, Michiru finds other great friends.
• Kishimoto Ruka: Ruka is not an ordinary girl because she hates men for treating her always for her gender and not for who she is. She’s a skilled motocrosser and has feeling towards Michiru. She also has a very boyish look to her.
• Mizushima Takeru: So far, there’s not much information on him, but his best friend, Eri, believes he’s gay because she’s never seen him with a girl and he’s a makeup artist. Besides that, we learn that he gets very pushy when he’s drunk, apparently.
• Takigawa Eri: We also can’t get much information about Eri from the first episode, but she’s very happy and loves to have fun. She’s also quite loud, but cute too.
• Oikawa Sosuke: He’s Michiru’s abusive boyfriend. In the beginning of the episode, he’s very sweet to her, but after she’s moved in, he believes the text messages she recieves from Ruka are a man’s, and hits her. He’s very controlling and closed-minded, Michiru can barely explain what’s going on before he beats her.

[Undetailed Spoilers] The rest of the episode is more of the series’ conflict. We learn more about the characters and then Michiru is trying to prove to Sosuke that Ruka is a girl, so she goes back to her house and looks for her high school yearbook. Sosuke calls her and makes her come home even though she didn’t find he yearbook. When she gets there, he beats her up very, very much and throws her on the lamp she bought for him when she moved in. She leaves and calls Ruka, but she doesn’t answer her cellphone. Later, Ruka finds her and brings her home where her roommate, Eri is found with her friend, Takeru. They have a great time together and go to sleep. That morning, something special happens, and I’ll leave it for you to watch it.

In my opinion, I really loved the series, and I’m certainly downloading the second episode with the hardsubs. My first experience with a ‘dorama’ was a great one! And Utada Hikaru’s Prisoner Of Love song is the theme song for the series, and in the four times it is played through the episode, it’s perfect timing, you feel the character’s emotions through the song and the soundtrack and the series itself are amazing. I recommend it to anyone who wants to watch it, but take notice that the content is very mature and you have to have certain maturity to watch the series.

Episode 1 (Torrent Download)

Today is the release date of Utada Hikaru’s new original studio album, HEART STATION.

It’s pretty much a coincidence that my order got here one day before the release of her next album! These things happen to me a lot, but I couldn’t be happier! Now I just have to wait awhile before I ask for the HEART STATION album. Besides, I already have 5 dollars worth of store credit for YesAsia!

If you wish to download some samples off her latest album or just download some new official wallpapers and the official screensaver, (I know I have!) You may click here.

Here are a few pictures that I really loved of Hikki promoting her new album, HEART STATION. Credits go to U Blog, so if you wish, you may check that website out too! It’s in my blogroll if you wish to.

After I walked into my house and into the entrance, I spotted a very odd package at the front of the door and my mother running at me and smiling to see if I even payed attention to it. I didn’t care and walked on. My mother then leaped at me saying “It arrived, baby, your package, since January! It has finally arrived!” I looked at her face to see her smiling, so I joined her hug and we started to jump and celebrate. I got hold of the package and saw the little blue sticker on it with the little Japanese symbols on it and smiled again. I brought it to the table on the living room and took all the bubble paper from the items as I smiled. I took them from the box, one by one and gazed at their wonderfully packed packages and beauty. I couldn’t be happier or satisfied-er with the way YesAsia packed my items. After I took them from the box, I decided to take some pictures to share this feeling with y’all! Here are my beautiful purchases (Sorry for the quality):

The Box

Utada Hikaru: Albums

Utada Hikaru: Music Videos Collection

Utada Hikaru: Concert DVDs

I couldn’t be happier that my package arrived. Now I’m going to open the items and look at the beauty of artwork! But first, I have to get my homework done…

As you all know because I have mentioned before, HEART STATION/Stay Gold (Utada Hikaru’s 20th single) has been released today! With it, a bunch of extra stuff on her upcoming album, HEART STATION, was also revealed. They named every single song that would be in the album, and 6 of them are totally new… Here they are:

1.Fight The Blues
2.HEART STATION
3.Beautiful World
4.Flavor Of Life -Ballad Version-
5.Stay Gold
6.Kiss & Cry
7.Gentle Beast Interlude
8.Celebrate
9.Prisoner Of Love
10.Take 5
11.Boku wa Kuma
12.Nijiiro Bus
13.Flavor Of Life (Bonus Track)

Other than that, some of her promotional pictures for her new album has already been released. Here’s one of them:

Now that this great single has been released, I just have to wait for her amazing upcoming album to be released!

Today is February 12th, guess what was supposed to happen on the 12th? My Hikki items were supposed to get here.

I’ve already gone to the mail post friday and I just went there today. I gave the man a paper with all the information of my order, and he went into a room… My hopes went high up when he took out this package and looked at it and started to compare the information on it with the one of the paper I had just given him. I was almost smiling of so much joy I felt, but then he put the package back and came to us and said “Nothing here.”

I was very upset, people shouldn’t mess with other’s emotions like that. I went from the happiest person in earth to the most upset in a matter os seconds. It’s just wrong.

I was very upset because my order still ain’t here and YesAsia declared it would. I sent them an e-mail expressing my foul mood and they said that they’d really appreciate it if I were to wait until the 27th, considering the fact that they shipped it to me January 27th. It shouldn’t take a month for my order to get here. I thought my long days of convincing myself it’d get here were over, but they’re really not, and I’m very tired of waiting, I’ve lost my hopes on ever receiving it and I don’t know what to look forward to anymore… Something that was so near that I could smell it, became so distant from my grip… In two weeks I’ll be having it (If, unlike all the other times, they actually say the truth)… and I couldn’t be more upset with them.

As I have definitely mentioned before, Utada Hikaru’s next album is to be released March 19th (According to YesAsia). The day is getting nearer and nearer, of course, so with that, Hikki is promoting it more and more, and we, the fans, couldn’t be happier.

To begin with the title of the album, that from “Undecided,” went to “HEART STATION,” just like her next single that is to be released February the 20th. I feel like it’s a very, very beautiful title and couldn’t love it more.

It has also been determined that “HEART STATION” will have 13 tracks, 7 of them being brand new and never heard before, while the others are from her singles “Flavor Of Life,” “Beautiful World,” “Kiss & Cry,” “Boku Wa Kuma,” “Stay Gold,” and finally, “HEART STATION.” You even get a bonus if you pre-order a copy! You get a B2 sized poster! That’s awesome.

With all these fabulous updates, her album’s cover art couldn’t miss out, right? Well, here it is, straight from her website, so fresh and so beautiful:

But there’s still more! Her website also uploaded her promotional video (Or music video) for “HEART STATION” (The song), and it’s excellent! Anyone who’s not familiar with her work should check the video out! It’s a fantastic song and a great video! Here’s the link to the complete video:

http://www.emimusic.jp/hikki/heartstation/hs/

A lot has happened during these last two days. First of all, my birthday was cancelled and then re-scheduled. I’ll give y’all the details right here:

I had scheduled my birthday party since last week. At the beginning, (When the idea was suggested by my parents) I was very skeptical and did not want it to happen, but then from a party-idea, it became a more intimate get-together with a few of my closest friends which I love so much-idea. But I feel very bad for not sharing this moment with two of my other closest friends because of how rude they were to me, but what’s done is done and they have to learn their lesson.

Yesterday, this rumor that science fair was going to be due this tuesday broke out. Everyone freaked out. Apparently, it was only true to half of our class, the half that contained only Carol and Laura (From the list of people I was inviting), but before we knew that, these two girls came up to me and said “If it’s true, I can’t go to your birthday party.” I guess they’re right you know? I become 14 everyday, I never cared for their birthday parties, right? Even though one of them had her birthday party during a week of tests… I didn’t care, did I? I’ll tell you what. I did. I would’ve been the first one to get there if I wasn’t going to the wrong location, but I got there anyways. They’re not even going to show their support for me? Not even to spend half an hour at my party and leave? I cancelled it because of them.

My family got furious because of their excuses and now nobody wants to see their faces around here. I know it’s pretty mean to say that, but it’s the truth. I really like them still, but my mother just thought it was too rude of them to turn my party down at the first opportunity. I then regretted canceling such a great party and re-scheduled it, same time, same place. I’m inviting everyone I have before, except for them. If they have science fair to do, I’ll let them work. I’m not being the villain in this story. Our class’ science fair is due on February 20th, while Laura and Carol’s class’ is for this tuesday. They’re still coming over.

I’ll leave these two people unnamed, and even though I still like them very much, there’s no excuse for what they did and I will never respect that. My mother even reached the point of forbidding me to go their birthday parties ever again.

Now, enough of all the sentimental stuff because everyone will have a blast tomorrow and I will too!

Oh, besides that, I have more good news: My Utada Hikaru items are “Ready-to-ship!” I think they’re shipping it either today still or monday! If they do, I’ll be receiving the package next week! The week of my birthday! I’m so eager!

Today is the last day of vacation. It’s pretty sad, since I won’t be able to sleep late, wake up late, do what I want for the whole day, or nothing at all for the whole day, and I love these things, and I’ll probably be missing them real badly on the third day of school, but I think I’m prepared to start school all over again. I’ve been anticipating a huge assignment, and so far, it’s pretty good, I started many items already and I’m almost done, only 3 more items to go.

I’m definitely going to miss vacation for these next 2 quarters, but I’m sure that even though I’m giving up vacation, I’m certainly getting my Utada Hikaru items as a reward (I’m sorry that’s all I talk about, it’s just that I’m so eager to get the package and I just can’t wait, I promise that I’ll try to control talking about her all the time), my birthday party, and many more things to come! So nothing will be lost, really, since many things will be won!

But still, vacation is pretty damn awesome! I’ll still miss it a whole lot.