DRIFTING SAND漂流砂, HIDDEN WATER隠された水: Drifting Sand, Hard Work

Hey! I feel good right now, but surely it's just a cruelly temporary thing. Why do I feel so good! Because I just did a lot of stretches! Sure, it may be half past three in the morning, but I slept through Monday because of my topsy-turvy schedule, so what can you do. I even tried to brute force myself awake until it got to a "normal" sleeping hour, but I failed... So I'll just go with the wind for now, see what happens. I'm definitely going to try getting some exercise in a few days a week. Yes, that's what I've decided! One might reason that exercise causes even more loss of what little energy they had, but it doesn't quite work like that. It seems to actually bestow energy! Being all stretched out and flexible - I mean really stretched - is like feeling...Alive! Infants are really flexible, right? Old people are usually more mechanical and rigid from age, so it seems to make some sense to say that flexibility is a form of liveliness.

My friend MelodyofOblivion and I talked about something mentioned in the Naruto Anime. Two kinds of strong people, 'geniuses of talent' and 'geniuses of hard work'. Although he classified me as the former, it's not really true. For some things, it might be partly true, but for others, not at all. When it came to strength training, for example, I was a genius of hard work, big time! I'm not just saying that, like so many people who always remember the past in such a positive (or overly dark) light. When it comes to writing, particularly the use of imagination, but also the acquisition of knowledge or ability, I feel as though my friend might be partly right. I do think I have at least some talent. Still, I cannot be grouped into either category of geniuses, and I may be required to become a real genius of hard work in order to reach any kind of level that could ever be mentioned in the same breath as "genius". Although it almost sounds like we can group 'geniuses of talent' into two subcategories - 'physical talent' and 'mental talent' - a notion I've long pondered, I can hardly say that things can be labeled and categorized so sharply, so simply...

So now I need to get started on my essay, which is due on March 2nd. I have a bad feeling about my recent essay, which I have yet to get back, so this one needs to be good! I musn't underestimate this course, I need a 73 to become a true university student! This is no time to slack off! In school I've always had a pattern of 3-1-2 in terms of academic success throughout a given year. It's like some 'fail' essay with the climax inside the first body paragraph. I believe it's supposed to be 2-1-3, but correct me if I'm wrong. When it comes to a school year's progress, 2-2-2, or better yet, 3-3-3 is preferable. So in other words, I tend to do my best at the beginning of the year, but plummet in the middle and then desperately claw my way back up at the last minute. I'll try to avoid that this time...

I think in the future, when I have more time, I'll totally take up Karate again, or maybe another martial art. Maybe I'll take up a martial art that I think will be the most challenging for me, like something really acrobatic and/or requiring amazing flexibility. After all, I already know a lot about the basics of Karate, and it's not the kind of martial art that forces you to really bend or reshape your body, at least not like TKD, Capoeira and such. Even though my body is more bulk>agility oriented (probably not like that originally, I worked extremely hard in the past to gain brute strength...), I've always been really interested in flashy techniques, including the kind that aren't even martial arts-practical, such as wall-running! Parkour? Back in grades 10-11, I was part of the martial arts club, where I learned 360 ("Tornado Kick"). During that time, I was able to teach myself (by brute-forcing it, sans-research...) some other cool things, such as Handstand (Including hand-walking, max duration: 14 seconds), Cartwheel, and Wall-Running (I progressed enough to call it what I call it, 3-4 steps up, occasionally getting really high up a wall by fluke). Of course, my Wall-Running only worked on high-friction walls, such as brick or stone walls, or anything no more slippery than drywall. Not only would a martial art greatly improve my (now-lacking) health and fitness, it could come in handy in various ways.

Going back to my course - I've decided to do my essay on "Hills Like White Elephants" and "Cat in the Rain". I think I understand them, at least better than I understand the other short stories studied in class. Neither of them are terribly long, and we were given one example essay comparing the two. There are 18 different questions the students of our class have to choose from for our essay, but unfortunately, I read them all and put stars next to seven of them. I might just have to try writing each of them and see which one I have the easiest time with... If I don't sound terribly enthused, it's because these kinds of stories are not really up my alley. I prefer fictional literature of the most fictional kind: Fantasy fiction to be precise, hence all the Anime and Manga I watch and read. Videogames allow me to venture off into other worlds, and the same can sometimes be said for music! Even martial arts can provide this function - I'm Gohan! ^^ It's Ovaaa Niine- TH$#**$&#*$&#!!

In everything I do, I always push for the maximum possibility of customization - I suppose the same can be said for my life! That's why I even like things like Pokemon games; I have 649 Pokemon to choose from for a team of six, and everything from their stats and natures to their moves and items can be authentically me!
If you look at a few of my favourite Pokemon: Arcanine, Wartortle, Ninetales, Vulpix, Lilligant, Espeon...
What do they all have in common? It's not as though I noticed it before choosing them as my favourites. All of them are among the most "beautiful" or "aesthetically pleasing", particularly Ninetales, whom I think is the most beautiful of all Pokemon (yes, sorry Milotic) and all of the others in that list.

Wartortle is the second stage of three evolutions, all of which I like: Squirtle, Wartortle, and Blastoise. So why Wartortle?

It's simple. Wartorle's face gives him a certain 'coolness', but without following the idea with the rest of his appearance, like Blastoise, who is cool and not ugly at all, but also not very "beautiful". Wartortle has little circular marks on his cheeks that give him seemingly more character than his two counterparts, and his dark blue skin offers him additional 'coolness' that, although apparent in Blastoise, is not characteristic of Squirtle. Last but not least, his tail is larger, of a lighter colour, and designed to look more "beautiful" than the others'. Even his ears are lighter, longer and more graceful than the others. I like Wartortle a lot, and water happens to be my favourite type.

Getting back on topic, I think what this says about me is that I'm somewhat aesthetic-minded; one could even jump to the conclusion that I see things in a superficial way, but let's not jump to conclusions :)
After all, this is just Pokemon, and who doesn't love Beautiful things? I'm an artisan! I mean, when it comes to the other extreme in Pokemon, we have some really ugly (in my opinion) Pokemon with high battling stats as their main attractions. This leads everyone to use them, monotonously, in a conforming manner...
Here are some examples:

Ferrothorn - Very high stats, super-commonly used.