VllaskoCom ~^! somehow different from today

hello again!

It's obviously been a long time since I posted anything here. This year, I'll try my best to throw an update or two or three out. I've set out my goals and personal ambitions this year to be even higher than last year so it's going to be very busy. I've also come back from my trip to Japan so maybe I'll post something on that too!

finished CCIE: R&S

I flew up to Cisco @ San Jose this past week and was able to pass the CCIE: Routing and Switching lab. This took a huge weight off my shoulders as it had really been gnawing at the back of my mind the past month or so. During the final month before the test, I really felt like there was some sizable gaps in my knowledge base. As such, I nearly doubled my study efforts during that time. The last two weeks, I stopped touching equipment altogether and just cracked the books to prepare for the open ended questions. When it finally came to taking the actual test, I found it to be challenging but not at all difficult (if that makes any sense...). I definitely had to put brainpower into solving it but there definitely wasn't anything that stumped me. Even the open ended questions were fair and simple to me; perhaps I just got lucky? *shrug* All in all, the journey took me about 6 months. Even though it was initially about the cert itself, in retrospect, I learned an immeasurable amount of knowledge and proved something to myself at the same time. The journey was enjoyable enough that I'm going to immediately start another by going into CCIE: Service Provider. This time, though, I'm going to move at a pace that is a tad bit slower.

cool beans

This month is looking pretty good in the music realm. Utada and BoA are releasing albums this month. yay! I'm a little bit hooked on BoA's single "eien." It's really catchy. Also, watching her performance on Music Station the other night...man, she can still dance insanely well. As if she somehow lost it, ya... I've really pulled my focus and motivation off of updating this site. It's rather low on the priority list nowadays. I passed my CCIE written exam the other week. I came out of the exam feeling a bit shaky in terms of knowledge. I really wanted to come out of that exam feeling like I didn't need to hit the "end exam" button and see the score to know that I passed. Oh well, I did pass by quite a large margin so maybe it's just that I don't have the confidence in my abilities...who knows? Hopefully, I'll be ready to take the lab in third quarter of this year. I really need to pick up the pace.

�??????�

"??????????� There are things I won't forget in my life: certain people, special places, specific things. Though there are many of these such memories, I was reminded of one the past night: the moment a video game had become something more; more than just a something you play for a few hours, put down then move on; something with substance, a story, a compelling fusion of art, score and emotion. The day I had played Final Fantasy VII. I had been browsing around YouTube late last night and happened to find myself watching an orchestrated performance of Nobou Uematsu's "Tour de Japon." I hadn't listened to any of his scores for a very long time and yet I found myself still moved by many of them. "One winged angel", "main theme" and, of course, "Aerith's theme." The tonal changes, crescendos, decrescendos tugged at a forgotten corner of my heart; that childlike part of me who wants to believe in that fantasy world: a soldier turned protaganist against an evil company trying to control the world; a villian of blackest evil twisted by power and cruel circumstance; a trickster thief out for personal gain who ends up discovering reliable friends and proves herself to her father; a childhood friend willing to go to the ends of the earth; and an ordinary flower girl who understands what she must do amidst the emerging war around her and who pays the ultimate sacrifice. When I was younger, I remember the first time I played this game. It was introduced to me as something which illustrated the graphical power of the Playstation engine (which at the time was pretty awesome in its own right). And though I admit, the breathtaking graphics did initially grab me...in restrospect, it was the synthesis of music and interactive world which did me in. From the moment the title flashed across the screen and the music crescendoed into its unforgettable chorus and Cloud hopped off the train I was captivated. The diversity of the characters, the unique bonds of friendship and even death and its symbolism were all gripping. To this day, I have found no villian more memorable, despisable or lovable than Sephiroth; no character more impossibly fashionable than Cloud and no heroine more ordinary yet martyr-like than Aerith. There is no doubt that the video game genre has evolved since that time. There are better graphics, more attention to musical score, complex storylines and the like. But for me, there has never since been something with that "something"; something which contains all three in a perfect blend, one which makes you feel like it's a story you never want to end where you can emphatise and literally feel the game. Or maybe its just one of those "firsts" that I always remember; which always seem to be the most unforgettable moments. And so I ask, was there ever a game like that for you?

i'm gonna "no life" it for a while

I've decided to attempt the difficult road of becoming a CCIE. So the plan is to "no life" it for the next year and study non-stop. After all, it's been pretty much a "no life" type year so far getting together the certifications I did. I had considered going through the Alcatel certification track as I work on their equipment everyday. Unfortunately, there is neither the time nor the budget to take up the 11 tests needed to become an SRA in any sane amount of time. Added to that, there is no study material for Alcatel even if your company is a customer. Ow. Nevertheless, I took the Alcatel NRS, an entry level certification, just to see what it was all about. I didn't study for it at all and thus I passed it just barely. Looking back on the year so far, I think I've accomplished a whole lot. I've learned a lot, done a lot and feel good about it all. Even so, there is a strange feeling I have each day. A nagging feeling, that my life is slowly bleeding away, second by second, and I need to get somewhere before it all ends. Thus, I think, results the drive to learn more, become more. *** In other news, the new Otsuka Ai album seems to have hit the torrent trackers. It's surprisingly different. Almost like Otsuka Ai is testing out new genres of music. I'm not sure whether to like it or not but I will say that it's admirable when an artist goes outside their "norm". I do, however, like the look of her new site design. It's got that emotion filled hand drawn picture with the kurage nagareboshi lyrics; quite thought provoking. I can't promise that I'll translate all of the upcoming album but I'll definitely put forth at least a few of the better ones; subjective i know...

a new dawn of American leadership is at hand...

I'm soooo terribly happy that Obama won the election!!! It was one of those days of my life where I'll never forget where I was that day. It was such a moving moment and speech that I nearly shed tears.

Ubuntu 8.10 is coming! w00t!

new translation: confidentially

It's been a while since I've released a ZONE translation. This track, "confidentially" is the Miyu solo track off ZONE's "O" album. It seems there is only one more track left for me to translate on the "O" album now. Is that motivation to finish it up? i hope so...

RHCT

This past week, I finally took the RHCT exam. I've been studying fairly hard for it the past month or so. Linux has always been a passion for me since I was introduced to it nearly 2 years ago. I had always wanted to prove to myself that I could do it. Finally achieving it, the RHCT is personal validation of that knowledge and hard work to myself. As I had never taken the exam before, I was really worried about the level of detail the exam would cover. Early on, in preparation, I had covered the gamut of things that might appear on the exam, breaking various services, memorizing boot order and sequences and even nitpicking over the various lines and attributes in configurations. The last week before the exam, I was really burnt out and just didn't even think about Linux for that week. Exam time came and I found it to be one of the more challenging exams I've taken and definitely the most fun. I came out with a sense of really feeling like I knew what I was doing rather than other multiple choice exams I had taken where I just felt like I knew the theory behind it. Best of all, the results showed I had a perfect 100%! I guess I'll probably be moving on to studying for the RHCE for early next year...

Kurage, Nagareboshi...

I've decided to skip "Rocket Sneakers" for now as that song just didn't phase me at all... However, the new single coming out next month is, to me, something to definitely watch out for. It reminds me a lot of "Planetarium" and yet it is different in its own way. The imagery of this song and it's relation of "jellyfish" to "shooting star" is particular interesting to me. But the more I think about it, the more it just makes sense. There always seems to be a sense of appreciation of the environment and nature in Japanese lyrics. This song is not far from that ideal. To understand this song, I think it's best to put some personal comments in this entry. This year, I took an extended trip to Japan to peruse some of my favorite haunts there as well as experience some new things I hadn't seen or done before. Although there were many things that found their way into my memories, one such one was the Osaka Aquarium. There are few things in life that I have seen with such picturesque unmodified beauty (we all know how photoshop can add/modify "wow!" factor) but many things in that aquarium were among them. In particular, was the jellyfish exhibit where you could see a multitude of different jellyfish swim and glide about. In this particular exhibit, the lights were darkened and all of the aquarium tanks housing the jellyfish consisted of either a pitch black or a dark cerulean blue. Swimming, as if almost floating, around in these tanks were jellyfish of beautiful shades of orange, yellow and red; a pure and untainted beauty. Recalling how they streaked through the black waters, I find the comparison between a shooting star and a jellyfish not too farfetched. I can't help but think that Otsuka Ai had seen the same exhibit in Osaka... Suffice to say, I remember spending an unusually longer amount of time in that exhibit than the rest.