The Dream Setlist.

So basically tomorrow I’ll be attending my first concert (and second ever!) in more than a year (20 months to be exact). It’s a Metallica show, and I’m more than excited about it, as the said heavy metal band is one of my favourites of all time. To be honest I never thought I’d ever have the chance to see them live – those buggers are NEVER coming to Malaysia, and Ottawa isn’t exactly a hotspot for concert tour stopovers. So you can possibly imagine my excitement when I discovered on metallica.com that these thrash metal specialists would be making a stopover in Ottawa for the second leg of their North American tour

Thus, at this point, about 16 hours before the big show, this 21 year old enthusiast can’t help but to speculate about what they might be playing tomorrow.

Based on my research, these are the facts:

1.) 18 songs on average per setlist.

2.) Some songs are Given; that is to say, they will definitely be played (due to their being fan favourites and/or the band’s biggest hits). They are :

Seek & Destroy

Enter Sandman

Sad But True

Nothing Else Matters

One

Master of Puppets

That Was Just Your Life

The End of the Line

Broken, Beat & Scarred

The Day That Never Comes

Cyanide

-

…for 11 songs in total. I can’t complain. The Death Magnetic tracks that they have chosen are pretty solid (I’d have preferred the removal of The End of the Line though I must say) whereas others like Master of Puppets, One, and Enter Sandman are pretty much plain illegal for the band to not play.

3.) Therefore, I am left with only seven actual choices/wishes. Of these seven songs, it appears to be a statistical rule that at least two of them must be from the Garage, Inc cover album. I was going to make a prediction list of what the band might play tomorrow, based on statistical analysis of past setlists…but that’d take the surprise factor away from everything would it not?

Thus, I will list the ones I would like to hear them play then. This list is by FAR a long shot (remember Metallica have 9 studio albums, and one compilation package @.@), so I’d be happy if any four of the remaining seven choices hit the stage tomorrow. Here are my personal picks:

i.) Bleeding Me (Load album)

ii.) Blackened (…And Justice For All album)

iii.) All Nightmare Long (Death Magnetic album)

iv.) Battery (Master of Puppets album)

v.) Whiskey In The Jar (Garage, Inc. album)

vi.) Die, Die My Darling (Garage, Inc. album)

-

…the last one is a toss-up. Anything from the pack of I Disappear, Fuel, The Memory Remains, No Leaf Clover, or The Judas Kiss would please me. I risk being shot suggesting that they play something from the much- maligned St. Anger, but Frantic has been played six times on the World Magnetic Tour so far, and I wouldn’t really mind hearing it live tomorrow actually.

4.) For your reference, this is what they played in Ottawa the last time they were around:

October 7th, 2004 Setlist; Madly In Anger With The World Tour:

Blackened

Fuel

Harvester of Sorrow

The Unforgiven

Frantic

The Memory Remains

Wherever I May Roam

St. Anger

Welcome Home (Sanitarium)

Creeping Death

Fight Fire With Fire

Sad But True

Nothing Else Matters

Master of Puppets

One

Enter Sandman

The Prince

Seek & Destroy

-

This is getting pretty exciting I must say =D

And thus, I call it a night for now, and eagerly await the dawn.

Saya rindu:

Mereka.

Dia. (Happy Birthday!!! =D)

Dia.

Dia.

Dan dia:

XD

-

<3

PS – I got a 92% on my Carbonate Sedimentology midterm. I feel happy =)

I got this earlier this week but didn’t have the slightest chance of posting it up to now…

Second time in as many years. Will there be a third?

Now that’s an extremely difficult question to answer…the best I can say is God willing, I guess. That said, I appreciate the little reminders that the fight may sometimes be worth all the blood, sweat and tears.

I need help.

For the first time, I feel like I’ve completely lost control of how my semester in university is going to turn out. For the first time ever I admit I am not able to cope with all the deadlines headed my way, and know all the stuff that needs to be studied prior to testing (“cope” being defined as being able to perform the required task to the best of my ability + finishing it ahead of schedule). Midterm season was about as far as I could take it, and after that it all just collapsed.

Short of copying my friends outright, I have no idea of how am I going to complete all my labs, homework, assignments  and finish studying for exams/tests in time for when next week rolls around.

Previously, when such things seemed to be approaching, I’ve gone crazy. I know that my starting to shout and rant at people, and moments of crying alone in my room are acute symptoms of such stress. At times like those I can only force myself to stay in check and beg people with whom I’ve been hard with not to judge my character too harshly, and then pray that they’ll still be there for me after all the dust has subsided. Usually all this clears up in a few weeks, and I bounce back in some spectacular fashion: I remember scoring six straight 100% in miscellaneous quizzes and labs in first year, and giving a massive damn-you-and-go-to-hell response to a Chemistry exam which my prof had warned us against by scoring an ass-whupping 96%. Usually I recognize a response is required, and by digging deep, I can provide it.

This time, I’ve gone past those phases of ranting and crying. The tears have dried up long ago. I’m now in uncharted territory with respect to academic stress. SIX BLOODY COURSES, and no way out in sight. This time around, my reality check has decided that defeat is near imminent, and by the time my midterm results come out, I may have no choice but to concede that this is a failed semester (“failed” being defined as a marginally less than impressive semester – one that impacts my career opportunities with Petronas by not being a Dean’s List level achievement). At this point I tell you I will not be surprised if I finish this year with a C. Bear in mind that my worst ever grade at the University of Ottawa has been a single B+…which was back in my first ever semester, and after I suffered a black-out in the exam hall. As such, I don’t see a retaliation event on the horizon, or even a forthcoming moment of stunning defiance that will turn things around and fix things.

What can I tell you (and myself) about my current state of mind? It’s strange. I find that I don’t care any more, which to me is a sure sign of irreparable damage to an academic semester. I only started feeling this after I realized that despite cutting down on meal and sleeping times (for the past few days I’ve been doing 4 hour-sleep days and skipping lunches), nothing I do seems to be able to rectify the situation. And beyond asking God to give me 26 hour days, there is NO MORE TIME THAT I CAN GIVE TO MY COURSES. Do you honestly blame me? If I hadn’t been working, and had been procrastinating heaps, then I’d readily concede that the fault is mine. I don’t think it is. I’ve done everything I could, and things just aren’t working out. My situation is not helped by all my courses having excessive workloads (all of them have labs that can easily take you over 7 hours to complete, each), overlapping tests (I just effing hate it when labs, quizzes, and a test are all on the same day), and some profs who are, if I may speak my mind plainly, douchebags.

Maybe that’s why I am virtually giving up now. I’m already looking forward to next semester, wondering if I can reproduce the same form that I had in my 2008 winter semester – a 9.8 CGPA out of 10 – and hopefully repair the shit ass damage done by Fall 2008.

3.06 am.

Come back whenever you’re ready alright? I’ll be waiting.

Promise.

Number Three =)

Concert #1: Linkin Park – Live in Montreal, Bell Centre, The Minutes To Midnight Tour, 22/02/2008.

Concert #2: Metallica – Live in Ottawa, Scotiabank Place, The World Magnetic Tour, 03/11/2009.

Concert #3:

Matthew Good – Live in Ottawa, National Arts Centre, The Vancouver Tour, 11/12/2009.

-

I’m excited. Very excited =)

-

What are you thinking…?
What are you thinking…?
What are you thinking…?
Oh, what are you thinking…?

Go…explode…
What time is it that you’re waiting for?
What time is it that you’re waiting for?

- The Boy Who Could Explode, Matthew Good, Vancouver album.

The Experiment.

Invincible.

Explanation: it was on sale.

30%

I need a break, so so badly >.<

:(

So freaking busy I feel like killing myself for wanting to undertake six courses, and then failing to handle them.

U2 Quickie:

Before I run off to my 7 pm French exam lol.

From the official website of U2:

“As we reported a couple of weeks ago, special formats of The Unforgettable Fire will feature bonus audio material and a DVD including music videos, a documentary and unreleased live footage from the Amnesty International Conspiracy of Hope Tour in 1986. Here’s the 16 track listing for :

The Unforgettable Fire Bonus Audio CD.

Disappearing Act
A Sort of Homecoming (live)
Bad (live)
Love Comes Tumbling
The Three Sunrises
Yoshino Blossom
Wire (Kervorkian Remix)
Boomerang I
Pride (In The Name of Love)
A Sort of Homecoming
11 O’Clock Tick Tock
Wire (Celtic Dub Mix)
Basa Trap
Boomerang II
4th of July
Sixty Seconds in Kingdom Come

As the comments on our earlier story have been suggesting, The Unforgettable Fire – with the arrival of Brian Eno and Danny Lanois in the studio – has a special place in the heart for many fans and a lot of the tracks on this bonus CD have been unavailable for a long time.

Two of the titles from those Slane Castle sessions have never been available: ‘Yoshino Blossom’, and ‘Disappearing Act’, which the band recently completed. A Sort of Homecoming and Bad are live versions, from The Unforgettable Fire Tour that were on the highly sought after collectors item EP Wide Awake in America.

The version of 11 O’Clock Tick Tock was the b-side to ‘Pride (In The Name of Love)’ while Wire (Celtic Dub Remix) was previously on 7″ vinyl given away free with NME in May 1985.“

-

Yup, that’s right, The Unforgettable Fire is getting the same treatment as Boy, October, War, Under a Blood Red Sky and The Joshua Tree before it – it’s being remastered and put together in a nifty box set. I honestly can’t wait – The Unforgettable Fire is one of the few U2 albums that I am yet to listen to (the others being Achtung Baby!, Rattle & Hum, and Under a Blood Red Sky), and some purists will easily maintain that it’s one of the band’s best. That I do not know, but it’s certainly an album very much worth noting as its release in 1984 marked the band’s biggest change in sound up to that point.

It joins the following tracks on the original album: A Sort of Homecoming, Pride (In The Name Of Love), Wire, The Unforgettable Fire, Promenade, 4th Of July, Bad, Indian Summer Sky, Elvis Presley and America, MLK.

Is is thus that I eagerly await October the 26th =D