A Breather

Blogging on bus to work. It's been a hectic few months but still managed to squeeze in a couple of yoga classes every week. My practice has become v much an anchor in my life; it's good to have that "me" time to reflect and focus while everything else in Life whirl around me as if I'm @ the heart of a vortex.

The hot class I attended last night was v gentle (the temperature was just right) and this morning I woke up feeling surprisingly refreshed.

Game-wise I might return to some of the older titles; there's nothing on the market that's worth getting. So sad.

The Tales of Hoffmann

Went to this opera production (for the first time) this week and re-discovered the famous "Barcarolle" -- totally and utterly sublime.

The whole scene (beginning of Act III) is quite magical when the Muse, takes the form of Hoffmann's best friend Nicklausse, warns the poet against the alluring courtesan Giulietta. How the two voices (mezzo and soprano) take turns to lead is ingenious. (Though the above is not the best recording out there but it sure is great to watch!!)

A New Game

It turns out that neither Soul Sacrifice nor One Piece, Pirate Warriors 2 are games that I wanna play, after all. The former is not as good as Final Fantasy Type-0 (which I still like) while the latter is just another reincarnation of Dynasty Warriors - Next (Zzzz). 

But I do need to take a break from Type-0, Persona 4: the Golden, and Ultimate Marvel vs Capcom 3, so I downloaded this dungeon-crawling game called Holy Sorcery Story (Japanese: Sei Madou Monogatari) ~ NO idea what it is about but the graphics is kinda kawaii. It's all in Japanese so I just played through the first chapter blind ... but cos I can understand the hanji so I vaguely know what's going on. Basically it's a game that you have to keep upgrading your weapons and magics to beat the bosses. Levelling (of the protagonist) is not essential cos that is reset every time you enter a dungeon. The most frustrating part of this game is, if you die, you lose Everything you'd collected in the dungeon. 

But I think I am getting the hang of it now so am enjoying the first couple of dungeons even though they are a bit of a grind...

Another Short Break...

... from the mat, that is. No time to yoga this weekend (family obligations etc) but will return tomorrow for a "power" session with an instructor whose classes I haven't been able to take for months. I hope he has since changed the routine/flow of his classes cos they did get a little ...predictable.

I can now do the headstand (in the middle of the room) which I see as a little leap forward in my practice (the pose itself is good cos it's always good to have bloody flowing to the heart and head) and my next target is to be able to do the half split (don't think I'll  be able to perform the full split ~ ever!!!)

Over on the games-front, Soul Sacrifice is finally released but reviews keep saying the game, while having an interesting gameplay, is quite repetitive. I think I'll return to Final Fantasy Type-0, do a bit more grinding, before moving on any new game (maybe Final Fantasy X Remastered end of the year. Ultimate Marvel vs Capcom 3 is not a bad fight game (esp Ironman 3 has piqued my interest in the comics again) but I'm TERRIBLE @ executing combo moves ... I really think you need to have a special brain to do that. Meanwhile I'm also half way through my third playthrough of Persona 4: the Golden, which is still fun but I think I need to take myself away from those social links (yikes) ...