Result and World Cup

Ok! Breaking news first. I was approved in the interview. That means the selection in Brazil is over, now it's up to us to contact a Japanese university and a Professor. If everything goes right, I'll probably be back in Japan next year then!

I just don't know... I was pretty bad during the interview, saying some things I shouldn't and forgetting some I should say. Besides, my research involves many subjects I haven't studied during the Engineering course. I studied a little by myself, but even so, my knowledge about those is far from ideal... There were also qualified people with good study plans, so I thought I wouldn't be chosen because of the average level... Guess I guessed wrong in the end...

Now the omnipresent topic: World Cup. It's been pretty nice until now, with good games and balanced matchs (usually...). Germany showing it will be all out at home, Trinidad with guts getting a tie against Sweden with one man less, the "Death Group" matches (Argentina vs. Ivory Coast and Servia vs. Holland), Italy's "Azurra", Czech goals agains US, Spain unexpected great victory...

I wasn't expecting Japan's defeat against Australia, though. I watched the first half and it seemed that Japan would be able to hold Aussie's attacks. During the second half I had a class, and what was my surprise to hear that Japan lost the game... at the last minutes.

About Brazil's game, it was a nice game with an amazing goal. Since Croatia isn't a weak team (as, theorically, any team in the World Cup), at least Brazil won. Will have to do better, though. Let's say that as a team, Croatia was better. Brazilian players ability was the point that helped the victory this time. But the defenders were better than the forwards in general.

Next game is against Australia. Let's see what happens...

To the interview

Humm... Update!

As I said previously, I'm applying for this year's Monbukagakusho scholarship. Japanese and English tests were last Friday, and somehow I managed to be approved for the interview. It will be held this Friday.

Well, I know that's the most decisive part. I've heard that Japanese level might not be so important for those going as researchers if a good study plan is presented. Also, for anything from a job to a scholarship, the interview is the part when they know the "real you" (or the parts that are relevant to what you're applying... That's the idea at least). So, that's the part when I really can't mess things up.

Although I know that, and I'm working on things, like trying to improve my study plan a little (a 2.0 version would be appreciated), I realized that I'm more nervous about university stuff, like tests, reports and presentations (not to mention the monography), than that interview... Although the latter may be much more important to my life (with the possibility of changing at least the next two years of my life... or more probably it as a whole) than the former. And I don't even know why that...

Now, is that a good or bad sign?

ハウルの動く城

Using the weekend to relax, I decided to watch the movie "ハウルの動く城" (Howl's Moving Castle) for the second time.

I recieved that movie as a present from a friend (thanks Meg) before returning to Brazil. I tried first to watch it with no subtitles, and of course it's in Japanese. I could get the general idea, but not all of it.

I'm still resisting to put English subtitles, since I have to practice Japanese. And I know that I'll look only to the subtitles if I do that. So, this time I selected Japanese subtitles. There are things I still don't understand. But at least being able to listen and read was a good help.

I don't think I should write a review, since my comprehenshion isn't complete, but it's a good movie, following Miyazaki's style. Anti-war message and fantasy are standards, but it's interesting putting an elder lady as the main character, even though she has a young soul...

What happened to the witch that cursed her is also a little strange (not telling to avoid spoilers)... and so is how Sofie (the main character) changes from old to young and vice-versa, especially at the end of the movie... Well, this one I may have lost some explanation. (But I do understand why she changes for good at the end.)

But I still refuse to watch with English subtitles...

An English review is here. Although I haven't read it to check its contents (because of possible spoilers of parts I didn't understand).

At the hospital and scholarship

For those who were worried because of the title, I'm not sick or anything like. Wednesday, I went to the university hospital with classmates and professors as part of the Biomedical Engineering subject. So, that was a chance to see the equipments we usually only see in books, although most of them weren't operating at the time... especially those at the maintenance sector.

Also, some parts were interesting, like the laundry and the kitchen, which use vapour for some of their functions... And the amount of clothing to do laundry and food to cook is absurdly huge! One of the things that most people don't notice...

But the promised highlight was a visit to the Surgery Center. The opportunity to see the instruments working and, more than that, some "real action". Unfortunetely, when our group entered the place, there were few surgeries happening, and most of them about to finish... The only one that was going to take longer involved radiation. In other words, not recommended for spectators...

The only thing I regret was forgetting the camera at home. A group of Electric Engineering students wearing those surgeon clothings surely deserved a picture...

But the day wasn't over yet. But before continuing, a briefing is needed...

I decided to apply for the Monbusho (for people in Brazil, the Asebex link would be a better choice...) scholarship for my Master's degree. But because of tests, reports, etc. etc. I was overloaded with paperwork to send for the application last week (last week to send them). Well... it wouldn't have been a big deal if I haven't forgot about the study plan... I managed to "scratch" one, although it surely deserves heavy improvement (working on it...), losing some hours of sleep (and looking like a zombie during Wednesday's classes).

Back to this week's Wednesday...

My forms for the Monbusho scholarship were approved. And the language test is this Friday... Well... I must admit I haven't been studying neither English nor Japanese lately, so I'm a little worried. Writing on my blog and mailing friends surely help me not becoming too rusty, but I dunno if it's enough for a test... especially a Japanese test.

Anyway, I'll study what I can today and see the results tomorrow. There's not much else to do, and stressing over it will only make things worse. At least that will give me a real measure of my language ability for tests...

X-Men 3 and shooting madness

Weekend. Reports and tests ahead, but that can wait a walk at a shopping mall...

There I found a group of friends who were going to watch "X-Men 3", and I decided to join them. Like "The DaVinci Code" movie, lines all the way... Maybe even more, although there were less people inside when the movie started.

Humm... I haven't been reading X-Men comics for the last... 8 years? I dunno events like those happened in the comics too, but it WAS an overturn with some key characters dying among other drastical changes. Sometimes you really ask yourself what's the "right" side in the conflict... And behind that all were those philosophical questions like the right to change what's different and all that...

But... First, there were too much information for a less than 2 hours long movie. Maybe it would do better as a series. So, events happened too fast, without time to really digest what was happening. Add to that some questions about the destiny of some characters.

Spoiler below. It'll be written in white.
For example, WHAT happened to Madrox??? And did he volunteer to "sacrifice" himself as decoy that simply?

After the movie, we met another group. And among them, one strong TC3 player: CID. So, the group decided to watch us play (we've never played together before). Before that, another player appears: LED. CID, LED and ITS... all together for the first time.

Some explanations: TC3, or Time Crisis 3 is a shooting game. And in Londrina, as far as I know, the 3 top players are CID, LED and ITS (me). The top records are ours. They play together in link mode, while I usually play alone, in solo or link mode.

I've played with LED once before... We did the high score in link mode, but a little after, CID and LED overcame that score (again... it's hard to achieve a better score than a good team alone in link mode). LED's play style is without many resources, taking few hits, almost not using special weapons and with a high accuracy.

With CID, things are completely different... and I understood why their partnership works. His play style is shooting wild and fast, killing as much and as fast as possible by any means necessary. As a result, he usually is hit many times, but his time and points are very good.

Me? I'm somewhere in between. Some kind of all-round player. I can play in either side (player 1 or 2) in a balanced way, although the other two are better in their characteristics. But I'm a little influenced by the style of the player I'm playing with.

So, playing with CID, we achieved top score (being hit more than my usual) of about 3009000 points in around 23' 30''. Yeah!