• Hakubyou
      • hello Hakubyou
      • Username: Hakubyou
      • In response to: "Who are you?" It is my duty to collect the last colored shards in this monochrome world split between Black and White. I am but a colorless sketch, an empty outline; they call me: Hakubyou.
  • Hakubyou's latest answers
    • Our Pets Would Need Some Serious Censorship...
      • "Oh, look, a lettuce leaf! And it's all fresh and green! I'm digging in!" - "Aww, thanks for preparing a new piece of that delicious apple for us! We really appreciate it!" - "You bought new sunflower seeds! I love those! Will you feed me some, please?"
        These are some of the phrases I first thought about when I read the question. Any pet owner would love their pets even more if they said something nice about their care for them, and so would I. But after some more deliberation about the topic I realized that these sentences in now way represent the way our pets really behave towards us. Because I am sure that if they could talk, censorship would have to be introduced for animals as well, at least for the sake of keeping children's minds innocent...


        Fischer's Lovebird (Agapornis fischeri)

        We own two indescribably cute lovebirds; they are in fact so cute that sometimes when I watch them I have to concentrate to not turn into something resembling an insane clown on drugs and then die of shock or implosion from an overdose of cuteness.
        But there exists a moment when all of that fluffy, bouncy cuteness suddenly vanishes and magically transforms into something taken directly from an 18+ rated movie (if birds watched movies, that is) - the moment when they open their sharp little beaks.

        Nelli, the male bird of our pair, is a huge glutton. He sits there quietly and behaves well, but if there is just the slightest hint of new food being brought for them somewhere in the air, he suddenly goes nuts and rampages through the cage like it was his last meal, ever. He jumps up and down and flaps his wings frantically, turning around in circles and falling off the little branches we put in there, all while shrieking some incomprehensible bird speak in a volume surpassing that of an airplane. Now, since this question is about what he would say if he could talk, it would probably translate into something like the following:
        "Oh my GOD why did that take so long?! I am f*cking STARVING in here, you imbecile! Give it to me now or I'll rip out your heart bit by bit and make you bleed to death!"

        But Nelli is still nothing in comparison to Koko, the female lovebird. You know the proverb "Don't bite the hand that feeds you"? Yeah, well Koko doesn't care about that. She is a very curious and observant bird and wants to know about everything - especially what everything tastes like. That's why she would rather bite your finger until it starts bleeding and becoming numb than eat the food you want to give her, because she already know what it tastes like, contrary to your finger.
        But sometimes, there is something even more weird about her behavior. Sometimes she just sits there and does nothing and then something in her brain suddenly makes that famous *click* sound and the insanity switch is activated, making her scream and shriek and complain in her infernally ear-deafening high-pitched voice as if there was no tomorrow. I have no idea why, but for some incomprehensible reason, she just does that from time to time. And it always lasts about a quarter of an hour, forcing everyone to leave the living room to avoid damage to their eardrums. It sounds like a huge fleet of Airbus A380 planes all taking off at the same time while someone is throwing frozen birds into their engines, making them explode and burn and crash violently into a hospital, watched by an entire primary school's pupils who of course start to cry because they are horrified and then their teachers shout at them to shut them up. Yes, it's that bad.
        A translation of Koko's tirades would certainly look like this:
        "What the f*ck is this sh*t garbage goddamn ***** and ***** **** the hell **** **** **** **** ********* ** ***!" (You are now allowed to replace those asterisks with any bad words coming to your mind. Oh yes, it is that bad.)

        And that's why our pets would need to be censored if they could talk.
        (By the way, no, we don't mistreat them. They are just that eccentric. They have always been like that. But they are still incredibly cute.)

      • answered by Hakubyou on 03/04/2011
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    • They Took My Heart and Made an Album Out of It
      • I cannot remember well how I used to live before discovering the wonderful thing called music - something that can be described as nothing less than a celestial present from heaven. Anyone denying that fact should probably be forever deprived of it, or at least until they begin to understand its importance for mankind. It must surely have been a dull and lonely life, being left alone with all those doubts and fears and no remedy to cure them. And it was certainly a life missing out on all the emotions that can be conveyed through music only - an incomplete life.
        But when I was at the point that I thought of as the lowest possible, when I was about to give up on everything I had ever believed in, suddenly a huge shiny gate opened up in that sacred place beyond the clouds and dropped something right onto my head that should forever change that miserable "life" I had into something worth telling about. That's the magic of music.


        earphones

        So, what was that heavenly score God himself seemed to have thrown at me? Some might laugh at me now as there are probably a good deal of people who despise them or their music, but the band that really got me hooked on music and listening to it actively was Linkin Park.

        It was love at first song. I was watching some fan-made music video for a Japanese cartoon I was into at that time which used the song "Numb" from the album "Meteora". I had often heard that song on the radio, but never really payed attention to it. But now, as I listened to it actively for the first time, it was like getting into a car and then crashing into a brick wall at full speed. Words cannot suffice to express the impact I felt from being exposed to that song.
        It was like the band had taken the contents of my heart and made a song out of them. It matched the situation I was in so perfectly that it almost scared me. I listened to it a second time, then a third time. And a fourth and a fifth. And then about another fifteen times until I finally decided to set out on an odyssey into the depths of the Internet to find out who these people were that had stolen my diary and based their lyrics on it. Needless to say, it was no difficult task because of their popularity and I listened to some of their other songs, like "Breaking the Habit", "From the Inside" and "In the End".
        Afterwards, I was even more startled but also even more thrilled at the accuracy they had at telling me something about my own life without even knowing me. They had not made a single song out of my heart, but two entire albums. It was a strange but still great satisfaction to finally have found somebody in this world who seemed to understand what was going on inside of me - even if it was all just a huge coincidence that I got too worked up about.

        The next day after school, I dashed off as fast as I could and nearly destroyed the door of the local shop selling CDs when entering; then I frantically grabbed both "Meteora" and "Hybrid Theory" after searching for them on the shelves and bought them for whatever price they might have had. I didn't really care about it as they had become something priceless for me anyway; they were like a score of my life, written exclusively for me, even though I knew that it was not true.

        Linkin Park have accompanied me on my journey ever since and they have never failed to keep up my love for them. Listening to their songs is something very special to me as they make me feel happy in good times but also help me endure sadness and pain in bad times and cheer me up again. If I had not discovered them, my life surely wouldn't have been the same.

      • answered by Hakubyou on 03/02/2011
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    • I Didn't Even Want to Say That!
      • I am the kind of person that always thinks through their words several times before saying anything and that meticulously ponders every possible way they could be understood to avoid saying something offensive or embarrassing.
        I really try to live up to the proverb "Think before you talk" (at least it is one in Germany: "Erst denken, dann reden!") and would therefore rather not say anything at all than say something I will regret afterwards.
        Because of this attitude of not letting my emotions control my mouth, real foot-in-mouth moments have only happened rarely to me - well, until some months ago that is.


        We two together

        In my German and English lessons there is a guy nobody seems to be able to relate with. He always appeared unapproachable to me and as if he would just want to be left alone and not talk to anyone. During the first two terms of my final two years at my school I did not really care about him as I simply did not know him. I even remember sitting in the classroom during lunch break and looking at him on the other side of the room because I desperately tried to remember his name - and usually I am good at memorizing names.
        But then, during the third term, someone had suddenly rearranged all of the desks in the classroom and we had to choose new seats, which is how I ended up sitting next to him. After a few conversations with him it finally dawned on me that there was nobody who could relate with him because obviously no one had ever really tried to - sitting there next to me was one of the most ingenious persons I was ever able to get to know. He had a totally different and more interesting and unusual way of approaching things than any other person I had met prior to that, which is also probably the reason why a lot of people were put off and did not want to talk to him, but to me it was like a revolution of thoughts - he made all of them just spill out of my mind in cascades and then took a huge figurative spoon and stirred them so much that they started to form in a completely unknown pattern to me which made more sense than anything else I had ever thought about. I was fascinated. Soon, our conversations became a lot longer, until they would eventually last the whole time of the lesson we had together. We talked about everything that came to our minds, be it politics, the weather or whatever.

        By and by he became a very important friend to me, but even though I now knew a lot about him and talked to him often, he still seemed kind of unapproachable and withdrawn (he still does that even today), which made me sad as I felt connected to him in a way.
        Then one day after school we met coincidentally at the entrance of the school building which was a situation that had never happened before because he usually rushes home after school in a hurry for some reason. So when we saw each other, we just said "Hi" and then, without the need for any additional words, went home together as if it was something we would do every day. As if it was the most ordinary thing in the world. And maybe it was nothing unusual, but to me it was like some talent scout coming up to me and suddenly telling me I had been chosen as the main actress for an extremely anticipated movie. It was not usual at all. Not in any way.
        At that time he also ironically had exactly the same way to school as I did except that his was a little longer and because of that we were walking next to each other for a really long time. I desperately tried to keep up the conversation with him and to avoid creating the feared "awkward silence" but for some reason I suddenly was so nervous that I only talked about strange things that obviously confused him. It had been such a long time since I had last walked home together with someone and especially with a boy I really liked (in fact, this was been the first time), so I did not want to put him off and became even more nervous.
        When it was time to say goodbye I did not really know what to do because it was so much fun to be with him and I didn't want him to go yet, but of course I could not tell him because that would have been really awkward, so I just stood there staring at something in the distance to avoid making eye contact.
        But then he did something I would never have expected and accordingly I was not prepared for it. Without any warning, and I really would have needed one, he gave me a long and close hug. I think my brain exploded the moment I realized it. I was totally puzzled and my mind just went blank for a second. What did he just do? Why did he do that? What was happening? I didn't understand anything anymore, just because of his hug. The rest of that situation passed by in a blur. We both said "See you" and I watched him walk away after crossing the street, feeling totally dazzled and confused and as if I had taken several drugs at the same time (at least that's how I imagine their effect ever since).

        The next day after school, for some utterly strange reason, we met up the exact same way we had the day before and it seemed like that situation would repeat itself which nearly caused my head to explode again, but then he suddenly stopped walking and said something like "Well, I wanted to go buy something today, so...", which meant that he would have to go into the opposite direction of where he'd usually go. In that very moment, something in my brain definitely made the sound *click* and it swichted itself off to prevent me from thinking about what I was about to say. Immediately after he had finished his sentence, my mouth formed the most embarrassing syllables it ever did in its whole existence, as consulting my brain was not possible anymore.

        "Can I come with you?"
        I frantically threw these words at him but while speaking I already realized how embarrassing they sounded. I didn't even want to say that! It just came from somewhere in the depths of my subconsciousness and when it saw a fitting moment, it made a kamikaze jump right into my most important friend's face who was now totally confused.
        My words also initiated the "awkward silence" that I hate so much for some seconds, which I then broke in order to save the situation but which in fact made me do even more embarrassing things.
        "Nevermind!" I nearly screamed at him, being totally freaked out at my own behavior. "I'll go home now, bye!" Not even waiting for any response from him, I turned around and rushed off as fast as I could, leaving him there with the most puzzled face ever and probably thinking of me as a complete idiot.

        I was embarrassed for the whole week because of that stupid incident and had to concentrate to keep me from hitting my head against any random wall I would find.
        Fortunately, he never mentioned it again and he still talks to me like he did before. I am still impressed though because he is the only person who ever managed to make my emotions control my mouth before I could even think about it. In my opinion, that deserves a special mention. And in hindsight I am rather grateful for this as it has taught me to keep in mind how my emotions are still there, now matter how much I try to hide them behind the words I choose. Sometimes they try to force their way out...

        Thank you anyway, Mr. Brain-Explosion! :)

      • answered by Hakubyou on 02/28/2011
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    • The Promise We Made on That Day
      • He was the one that saved me from the depth of the dark abyss that I had fallen into. But he was also the one that made my life fall apart.
        We had promised to stay friends, to not drift apart and lose each, no matter what might happen. We both knew that we meant a lot to each other.
        If I had not met him, I would not have become the person that I am today and neither would he have, if he had not met me.
        But now all of this seems so far away, unreachable, lost somewhere in the distance of my memories.
        If I could trace back our steps, I would surely try to find the place where we took the wrong turn - into the opposite directions.
        For I would never forsake the promise we had made on that day...


        Rheineck - Switzerland

        I like to imagine my life in different kinds of ways. One of them is to think of it as a river, rising somewhere barely noticeable, becoming bigger and developing a more intense current with time, flowing through ever-changing landscapes and cities and finally reaching its still indefinite destination, disappearing into the ocean of oblivion.
        Every now and then there are people throwing stones into the river, some because of boredom, but some also because of an interest they have developed for that very river - they want to try changing it and see what happens.
        That's where he comes into play. He was the first person that ever managed to influence the river's flow by throwing stones into it and to lift it out of the deep chasm that it had subsided into over the years. At first they were just little pebbles, but soon he started throwing stones that were a lot larger until he would eventually only take huge boulders, creating intense ripples and waves in the river's water.

        While changing the river's flow and forming it the way he regarded as most fitting, thus changing my life significantly, I, too, began to develop an interest for him. By and by he became very important to me and our relationship deepened quickly until it had eventually become something that could be called "love".
        But now the situation was rather awkward than something to be happy about - we simply did not know what to do. We live in different countries and about 650 km (air-line distance) away from each other. Moreover, he was not really sure about it himself. I meant a lot to him, but he was in doubt about his feelings. Was it really love? He did not know and he was unable to decide on an answer to tell me.
        That was when it all started to break apart. And so did I, still being in love with him. But to prevent the thing I had feared the most after realizing my feelings for him from happening, I somehow decided, despite mostly destroyed mental state, to make a promise with him: That we would stay friends, no matter what would happen from that time on. This simple promise was one of the things that would change and shape my future life so much that I could not have grasped its importance back then even if I had tried to.

        It was an arduous way riddled with false paths and obstacles, but after about two years, I was eventually able to let go of my love for him and walk on by myself. Neither of us had broken the promise - we were still friends - and I thought that maybe everything had finally returned to the way it had been before our feelings had put a spoke in our wheel.
        Unfortunately, it had not.
        The second time I was able to see him face to face, which was during a convention for fans of Japanese animation and comics, he started acting weird and cool towards me whenever I said something that could be interpreted even in the slightest way like I still had some feelings for him.
        His behavior made me very angry, because I just wanted to have some fun together, but he turned it into some teen romance drama und refused to talk to me properly. That is also why I ended up crying at the end of the day. Because all of those little things had added up so much and had formed such a huge pile of sadness in my heart, a stupid guy I did not even know who was trying to annoy me just because it looked fun to him to mock an already sad girl made me burst into tears. And of course he then thought that I was crying because of him and my feelings for him and left us angrily.

        This misunderstanding is the reason why our relationship broke apart the second time. We did not even say goodbye the next day when I had to go back home. I have not seen him for more than one and a half years now and I do not know if I will ever see him again. He still means a lot to me and I still value our promise, but I just do not know how to behave towards him - no matter what I do, I am afraid that he will misunderstand it and never talk to me again.

        If there was one broken relationship I could restore, it would surely be this one.
        I want to keep the promise we made on that day. I still want to.

      • answered by Hakubyou on 02/25/2011
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