1.1.2015.

Happy New Year

From The Bedlam on Baltic Avenue.

2010 Kohaku Uta Gassen roll call!

aiko / Mukai awase (9)
Angela Aki / Kagayaku hito (5)
Ikimono gakari / Arigato (3)
Ishikawa Sayuri / Amagigoe (33)
Uemura Kana / Toilet no kami-sama (1)
AKB48 / Kohaku 2010 AKB48 Kamikyoku SP (3)
Kawanaka Miyuki / Nirinsou (23)
Kumiko / INORI ~Inori~ (1)
Koda Kumi / KODAKUMI 2010 Special Medley (6)
Godai Natsuko / Hitorizake (17)
Kobayashi Sachiko / Kaa-chan no hitorigoto (32)
Sakamoto Fuyumi / Mata kimi ni koi shiteru (22)
Tendo Yoshimi / Jinsei michizure (15)
DREAMS COME TRUE / Ikite yuku no desu feat. The Kohaku Special Brass band (14)
Nakamura Mitsuko / Kawachi otokobushi (15)
Nishino Kana / Best Friend (1)
Hamasaki Ayumi / Virgin Road (12)
Perfume / Nee (3)
Hirahara Ayaka / Voyagers (7)
Mizuki Nana / PHANTOM MINDS (2)
Mizumori Kaori / Matsushima Kiko (8)
Wada Akiko / AKKO ii!!! Kohaku 2010 Special (34)

ARASHI / 2010 Kohaku Original Medley (2)
Itsuki Hiroshi / Oshiroi hana (40)
HY / Toki wo koe (1)
EXILE / I Wish For You (6)
NYC / Yoku asobi yoku manabe 100% NYC (2)
Kayama Yuzo / Wakadaisho 50-nen Special Medley (17)
Kitajima Saburo / Fusetsu nagaretabi (47)
Go Hiromi / GO! GO! Iya~ Kohaku Special Medley (23)
Kobukuro / Ryusei (6)
SMAP / This is love’10 SP Medley
TOKIO / advance (17)
Tokunaga Hideaki / Toki no nagare ni mi wo makase (5)
AAA / Aitai riyu (1)
Hikawa Kiyoshi / Niji-iro no Bayon (11)
FUNKY MONKEY BABYS / Ato hitotsu (2)
Fukuyama Masaharu / Michishirube (3)
flumpool / Kimi ni todoke (2)
Hosokawa Takashi / Naniwabushi da yo jinsei wa (34)
Porno Graffitti / Kimi wa 100% (9)
Mori Shinichi / Erimomisaki (43)
Yusuke / Hito (2)
L’Arc~en~Ciel / BLESS (4)

Last post of 2009 here on the Bedlam.

Well, this is it. The last post on the Bedlam on Baltic Avenue. You know, when I look back at this blog and how it has become one of the biggest joys in my life, I can't help but think: 811 entries and coming. And it was been a long time since I had the Bedlam on Baltic Avenue chronicle the daily goings-on, the whinges, the random news that interests me, and so on.

It was on June 11, 2005 that the Bedlam was established with a simple picture of Mitsuki Koyama and Tskuto Kira from Full Moon wo Sagashite. Back then, the URL was arinaholic.blogspot.com. The early days of the blog featured scans, fanart, and

Eventually, after a few years with this URL, it was time for a change and make this blog not just an Arina Tanemura-oriented blog, but a personal one. Hence the current URL you see.

It wasn't until 2007 that I decided to go ahead and post like the Dickens om BoBA. Now you see postings every month. With updated banners and color schemes.

I hope that I get to top the amount of posts I made that year. I won't be able to do it this year.

With that said, thank you as always for reading, and please ring in the New Year responsibly. I will be on assignment at the Rose Parade, so I won't be posting until after.

January 1, 2008

Sitting on the hill with Father Time keeping watch

As 2007 draws to a close, I look back at the year that was Long Beach State Athletics. We had a very strong start to the season with our men's basketball team, and we ended up dancing for the first time in over a decade. Unfortunately, the coach was not able to perform consistently, and in spite of being named Coach of the Year, it was a pyrrhic award; he was fired soon after the 49ers lost to Tennessee. Men's volleyball fell far short of expectations. For the first time in a while, Alan Knipe's boys would not be in the MPSF tournament, much to my disgust.

In softball, we were improving under Kim Sowder, but in spite of having a wining record, the NCAA snubbed us. Bastards. Meanwhile, we get to see UC Irvine advanced for the first time to Omaha, while suffering a season-ending loss to UCLA in the Blair Field Regional. This from a season which saw us choke against the like of those hated Zotfags and the UC Riverside Highlanders. Underachieving year, and a season with too much Sheryl Crow. There's nothing more galling than hearing overplayed garbage from one of Lance Armstrong's ex-girlfriends. Well, maybe expired David Sunflower Seeds.

Actually, both of them would be topped in the fall, as the track teams plotted through their course, and the women's tennis team got the Big West crown once again.

The women's soccer team was overhyped and overrated. Losses to Cal State Fullerton (again), and UC Irvine (WTF!!?) and Cal Poly in the tournament (which probably was predictable to start with) made this another bridesmaid year for Mauricio Ingrassia. Contract extension may need to be on hold, and talks of perhaps finding a new manager to get them to the next level may be in order. As if things weren't screwed up enough, one of the losses was to USC, who ended up winning the national title. Another reason to hate Ali Khosroshahin, and pray that he takes over the program here when Ingrassia's contract is up.

Men's water polo (oh that's right, I forgot to talk about the women. Just as futile. Nuff said.). Oh man, Here I was, hoping we would get win number 18. It never came, and it probably should never have come at all, after playing like patsies in the MPSF tourney in Berkeley. Dropping matches after matches to UC Irvine, to the bigshots from Cal, USC, UCLA, and even a stinker to UC Davis is not going to be a good sign for Gavin Arroyo. He should be in the hot seat next year.

Women's volleyball. At last, something to cheer about. A solid year, save for some ugly efforts against Cal Poly, was the story of the season. Great year for Alexis Crimes, Misha Hasalikova, and newcomer Ashley Lee. Also, the regular season's biggest was against Florida. And we also defeated first-time entrant and Mountain West champions UNLV before being had single-handedly by Asia Kaczor, the Wench from Wroclaw, and the USC Women of Troy in the second round, and a five-game thriller.

Cross-country, it was more of the same, and we even won the Santa Clara Invitational. That was the only high point of the year, sadly.

Which brings us to the current things going on...men's and women's hoops. New coach: Dan Monson. The Rainmaker. Low expectations, and a work in progress. He said before the season started, "We are a work in progress." He was right. Maybe too right.

And that brings me to the women, who are currently 2-9 as this goes to blog. I have just witnessed the type of effort we put in against a team that's not ranked, but with a decent record, against Utah. During the shootaround, I was looking at both sides, and I saw a stark, bleak comparison...and perhaps a sign of things to come. On the Utah side of the warm-ups, their shots were falling in. Most of them. Very few misses. On the other side, I saw rimmed shots, rimmed three-point attempts, even rimmed lay-ups. It's as if these poor schmucks have never played a single game of basketball in their life. I was with my buddy Paul Lwin (who got his grades, and passed all of them, while I sit, stewing in waiting for one last grade to come), and we were the only two students in Section 111, the student section. All the others were on their break, and/or were out of town for the holidays. I said to him, "We're in trouble."

As the game ended, I met a sympathetic guy wearing a Rutgers women's basketball sweater, and I said to him, "We gotta have Vic Cegles call C. Vivian Stringer." He laughed, and I shook my head as I left the Walter Pyramid.

The decision should be easier for Dr. Cegles. Mary Hegarty is on the hot seat, and when you have a team that plays like they have never even played a single game of basketball in their lives...it's never a good sign. In this day age, people around the world who know the business of sports know that losses means less people going to the games. Less people means less money flowing in. And the coaching staff are going to be a huge liability. And they know that the chances of them not getting their contracts renewed, and being fired increase with every loss.

That's the thing. In a "perfect world", wins and losses don't mean a thing. Every game is just an exhibition and recreation, and not serious competition. However, in reality, Ws and Ls mean a lot. This is a program that historically, during the 70's and 80's, were actually GOOD. Those days are long gone, but then again, Long Beach City's basketball teams aren't faring any better. In fact, the Long Beach Breakers are playing decent basketball, and they are a fledling team, and I haven't even been to ANY of their games at the Hall of Champions gym yet!

I am confident we can start the new year off right. But maybe I am asking too much this year. But then again, it will be the Year of the Rat (I was born in that year)...so you never know.

Happy new year from BoBA, and Go Beach.

Another little video I made...

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I decided to make this one to welcome 2007. I hope you enjoy it.

Inner peace at Aliante to close out 2006

49 minutes till a New Year starts, and I am already spent as I begin writing this entry. I used to like being on the Strip to see the fireworks, but now that I have residency in North Las Vegas, I don’t feel like being on the Strip again because I feel like a tourist. I feel like I’m not seeing Las Vegas the way I want to see it: an ordinary American city that accommodates to everyone and anyone.

North Las Vegas was the answer to finding a suitable house for us to move to. Last year, when we filed escrow for it, the realtor told us that we are in a great neighborhood. Aliante, a planned residential community, is an elite, rich, luxurious place to visit, shop, enjoy entertainment…and we were just right next door! When he told me about this, I was grinning. But then, we had to leave the Valley. I had my Fall semester classes to take care of at Long Beach State, my mom had her preschool classes to teach, my dad and sister had to take care of patients at their respective hospitals.

The New Year’s Eve weekend was the first time we could settle in our new home, if only for a few days. As I walked inside and set my room up, I had a wide smile. No more hotel reservations. No more need to reserve a room on the Strip months in advance. We just had to drive down I-15 a few minutes to get to the destinations. I was enjoying myself.

But then, bad news happened. One of my mom’s friends who is also a surrogate aunt to me, was on the verge of dying from cancer. It had metastasized so badly that she was terminally ill. I was stunned. She was 65, and she was terminally ill. My mood became silent as I went through my rounds on the slots. I lost focus, and just a few hours ago, I broke down as we went back home to our house. The cold reality set in. 65 years old. I was anguished by the fact. She’s not technically a member of our family, but given her close ties with my mom, she might as well be. I hoped that she would be able to be alive enough to at least see 2007 begin, but my mom told me that she will be able to see it. She would just be bed-ridden.

Even so, I was anguished, and wanted to find a way to come to terms with it, and accept it. So, knowing that my family and I would leave for Long Beach early New Year’s Day, I took a walk up the street to Aliante. There was a park there where I could do some reflection and be at peace.

It wasn’t an easy walk. The path up was not finished yet, so my shoes had to trudge through dirt, a stone walkway, more dirt, and an unfinished crosswalk. This was nothing new; I knew North Las Vegas was still growing, and so it was. At last, I saw the entrance, with the community’s official logo: the silhouettes of two birds flying, combined with the letters enhanced by floodlights: ALIANTE.

I passed by houses, more houses, up and down winding paths. A young resident took a smoke as he cleaned his large SUV. But I was alone, by myself. The police weren’t there. Aliante, from what I know, didn’t have any intruders invade their property. But, knowing their status being residents of this community was a privileged one, I walked by, looking at the houses, eating some popcorn along the way.

Finally, I saw the park. Nature Discovery Park was a small park and activity center at the corner of Aliante Parkway and Deer Valley Road. Just across the street were shops and places to eat. The park had tennis courts, basketball courts, and courts where the young and young at heart would play shuffleboard. The park was sometime reserved for parties, weddings, and other socials. But no one was using it. Heck, they wouldn’t dare do it at this time of the night! Many of them were at home: they were either sleeping, surfing the Net, or watching the news or the New Year passing through other parts of the world. By now, most of the world had seen it pass through. The West Coast, Alaska, Hawaii and Samoa were yet to see it.

I found a gazebo, well lighted, near a senior community center, in the park. I sat down, ate morsels of the Orville Redenbacher Kettle Corn I popped earlier in the morning, inhaled the clean, crisp Nevada winter air, devoid of the pollutants of cigarette smoke that swirled all over the casinos and hotels in Las Vegas and the Cannery (North Las Vegas’ hotel and casino). And I reflected on the good things and bad things that went wrong, and I realized that when my time comes, will I be ready? And what if my dad’s time comes, or my mom’s or my sister’s? Will I be ready when that happens?

I knew that there was no way my aunt would be denied her opportunity to see the new year before she let go. Confident, refreshed, and with a smile on my face, I walked back home.

I passed by a couple of residents, saying, “Good evening. Happy New Year.” They said in unison, “Happy New Year to you too.” These residents have class.

It’s now 20 minutes to the New Year as I finish up this blog entry. As I went down, I could see the Strip and Downtown, and I know that I will be able to see the fireworks from out there. I can’t wait.

This being the last entry of 2006, I wish a Happy and Prosperous New Year to all of you.

Viva North Las Vegas!

I can now use my laptop for the Internet. I'm posting here from North Las Vegas, and in the words of James Brown, "I feel good!" I’m watching the archived 2006 Hawaii Bowl downloaded via torrent from my iPod, which is charging as we speak (with my SLVR L7 and my Love Generation, my laptop), and things are looking up.

I found out that I got a C in FIN 300. I got the bare minimum. I know that I will get at least a B in ECON 333, but if I did well enough on the final to get an A, it’s gonna be a 3.0 average for Fall, because the A and C cancel each other out. Fine by me, as long as I get that core stuff out of the way, because an Info Systems-heavy Spring with BeachSort, Anime Club, and Rugby on the side, as well as Super Fan duty (at games and with the Union), topped with a shot at selling my talents at the Job Fairs, are on tap when 2007 begins.

For the meantime, I’m gonna soak enjoying life as a Nevada citizen, and get to know my second city a bit more. Viva North Las Vegas!