音時雨 ～Regentropfen～

On the same day when I went back home, my copy of KOKIA's "long journey" has also arrived. Superb.

I didn't wanna buy this mini-album at first, because there are only four songs in one disc, which may be a small waste for the rest blank space on the disc. However, since this was the very first song KOKIA recorded before the born of KOKIA, the song "For little tail" is thus valuable enough to buy… ^^;

This album was just excellent. Yet, I don't want to talk about "Road to Glory" again. I love this song, and I DID use a large space to talk about it in my "REAL WORLD" review.

"Daybreak" is an image(?) song KOKIA wrote for game "Dragon Nest". There was a Dragon Nest trail version coming with the mini-album. I played it a bit, and I felt like to continue it when it becomes available in NA. I guess this song must be fitting the conception of the world of Dragon Nest very well! However, "Daybreak" is a beautiful song itself. The beginning of the song can be said as calm, but in the middle, it gets to be grander and more intense – I love that part especially the background chorus, which is clean, neat, and powerful. The arrangement was in consistence with the theme song "Road to Glory", which has been done in an intense and ethnic way. The slight and rapid beating of drums is also very neat. I can get the feeling that's similar to the image of "REAL WORLD" – indeed, the booklet was using some photos from her REAL WORLD photobook.

Now, "For little tail", my favorite. Even though KOKIA mentioned in her blog that she likes the new arranged version, I prefer the original version. KOKIA's singing skill was not as mature as now, but I found the exactly same feeling of her albums released in her earlier stage – I'm saying "trip trip", and I LOVE that kind of voice too!! On the other hand, I also love the melody and the arrangement. Ohh, wait, this song also has something similar feeling to "daybreak", not in melody, it should be something deeper, the "core conception (don't know how to describe it though, orz)". Well, I know the two games have the same staff, so that's the reason! Anyway, I love this style. :D I especially love the repeating phrases: "zabiatsuta… zabiatsuta…." KOKIA has already done the chorus well since that period, the chorus is so perfect and powerful, which made that part so sweet and catchy!! This song was done 13 years ago, before the born of KOKIA – now, this song has went beyond the time, and we were finally able to enjoy the "phantom" KOKIA song, which was not officially released until now. How can you not collect this album if you really like her? It has KOKIA's earliest work in it!!!

The last track, "For little tail ~once~", which is a rearranged version. It is slower and calmer than the original. KOKIA's voice… ohh, still the beautiful voice and she was doing more excellent chorus works in it. Comparing to the original, this one is thicker in melody and chorus; it has a completely different ambience from the original. However, I really prefer the original, hmm, personal suggestion, and I do love this version very much. :3

I was so glad for getting the limited version of this album. Now, what I'm expecting is the day of the coming of Dragon Nest in NA! XDD

This afternoon, I by chance mis-closed my gmail window, and when it reloaded, a small box popped up beside the chat.

Call phones in gmail!

Ooh, seemed Google was introducing their new service. Call US and Canada for free. Sounded good, but wasn't that like google voice? Both can call US and Canada for free, and both have low rate for international callings. Plus, I got $0.1 to for my first experience!! I was wondering if that was an integration of gvoice and gmail.

I wished that was. Thus, I accessed my previous gmail account, which has gvoice account. But I saw nothing like "call phones in gmain" small banner being above my gtalk buddy list. I was confused. Were they only offering the new feature to non-google voice users?

However, at night, I by chance loaded google voice home with my new g-account, and found that the g-voice account was ready for my new account. Oh, my! Sweet!

Then, I went to google blog, and found this post [ http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2010/08/call-phones-from-gmail.html ] and another similar post (link not shown). They are merging g-voice and g-mail as well as g-talk. Okay, not bad. Google, you're so amazing. I think I may apply for the cheapest cellphone plan and use g-voice a lot in future. XDD

I was glad to finally hand out my proposal for the coming committee meeting this afternoon. It was supposed to be handed out by five, yet I was around a quarter later. That was not really matter too much, and although I still need to work on preparing a presentation for it, my mind was loosened immediately after I submitted my writing.

My boss is famous (?) for his slow easy-going character. I gave him my original draft of the writing on last Wednesday, and his first feedback came on this Wednesday. I knew that I was also wrong that I should have mentioned him about giving me the feedback, but that did not mean he was allowed to forget it. orz

As a result, I had to face the fact that lots of parts were needed to be revised. He asked me if I was able to give him a revised second draft at Wednesday night, but at the same night I was going to learn about computer modeling from a former guy in my lab, how come I was be able to submit my revision?! So I told him probably I would give him mine on next morning, and it made me keeping working till 2:30 AM.

On Thursday, I spent lots of time on editing the figure and table. He read my revision and made some corrections, which was directly useful for me. I was working late in that afternoon in the lab for revising, editing figures, and other technical issues, and when it was 7:30PM, I decided to go home. But at that time, the last part of my writing was not fully finished, so he told me he would read that and put his feedback on my desk so that I could get it on the next morning before he came to the lab (don't be surprising if I tell you that's early for him to arrive at our lab at 2PM). He marked some parts were described unclearly. Hmmm, okay, I knew I'm not a native English speaker so such things were not strange if they happened. Thus, I had another night being working till 2AM.

Then, Friday the final day. The deadline was supposed to be 5PM. I got his feedback in the morning (10AM) and finished revising the entire proposal before his arrival (2AM, he was so on-time!). I gave him it, and started to proofread it by myself. I finished my correction ~15 minutes faster than him. Yet, I confess that his read that more carefully than me, so that I could correct typos and such other errors. He was still pointing out the unclear parts in my writing although they were clear for both of us – because others who don't have same background may not understand, you have to describe everything with as much of detail as possible – that's his deduction. Fine. I would do the work, and it was 3:30PM already. By around 4:20PM, I gave him my "final" revision while he was talking to another guy in my lab. I waited until three to five, and decided to ignore his talking. I guessed he also realized the time (I also know he belongs to the type of people who can still work after the last minute…). He didn't say more about my revisions, except a few minor grammatical errors. "Correct these and then you may hand them out." Oh, yay, that's what I was awaiting for! Superb!

I could probably have a long sleep tonight, without any worries about my writing – worrying on it won't work anymore. Also, I can finally enjoy my newly ordered item: KOKIA'S 2010 "OTO NO TABI BITO" CONCERT DVD!!!! Which I had been waiting for almost 3 weeks!!!!

I just ripped them into iso image files. Oh, no, you can not own them by me. You have to buy them by yourself if you really love KOKIA and her music!! I will go take a shower and then begin enjoying it. Do not disturb me while I'm dating with KOKIA's concert, or you suck forever! :D