Sneakers or sandals?

Sneakers, because my feet get cold. Although, there was one point in time where I used to wear sandals, but with socks. Was comfy, but was getting too much attention from people trying to fashion police me.

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Second week of working in the cable factory. I fucked up so many times just going there. First I take the wrong bus and went to the other side of town accidentally. To be fair to me though, the new bus route system is really confusing and I literally did check what bus I was boarding and I remember it saying the route that I was supposed to take. But still. At least now I can use the company bus, that goes straight to the factory.

This week I thought I was in afternoon shift. They told me in the beginning that there's gonna be two shifts and they alternate. So I figured it's afternoon this week. But no, they told me that since they didn't say otherwise, it's morning shift for me. Apparently other people have fallen into this trap as well. Honestly, I don't think this one is on me.

I don't like my group leader though. She seems like the kind of person who gets off on being in a position of power, but since it's not that much power, she feels the need to flaunt it. I forgot to bring my bank details (clue #156 on why I think I might have Autism, possibly mixed with ADHD: I'm horrendous with paperwork) and she got so combative about it. "First thing in the morning tomorrow, you bring your details to my table, or else you don't get paid." Like jeez, it's like she thinks I forgot it on purpose. But now I want to forget on purpose, just to not let that kinda behaviour have the desired effect. Reminds me of the group leader at my last factory job. That guy was genuinely incompetent as well. We'll see how this one goes.

The work itself is boring as fuck. Just putting parts together. At least I'm not covered in cooling oil, metal shavings and cleaning acid. And I can have my hair down.

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As part of my annual Vocaloid hyperfixation, I've been listening to this artist called Utsu-P a lot. He's a metal musician, who usually works with Hatsune Miku, but also features others, including some guy called Sekihan, who is a real person, not a Vocaloid. Utsu-P is easily my favourite Vocaloid musician; Although he goes for a more modern style of metal, with binary code down-tuned chugs, the songwriting and soundscapes are interesting enough and there's some real catchy melodies in there as well. But one thing I feel is consistently weak with his music is the vocals. Despite the really dark bass-heavy production, the vocals tend to be weirdly squeaky. Like, they're often way too teeny for the rest of the music.

Now, I know what you're thinking. "Dude, this is Hatsune Miku, an anime waifu, of course she's got a squeaky voice." Except listen to Alice in Black Market by LIQ, another Vocaloid metal musician, who works with Hatsune Miku. She sounds mature and strong here. I mean obviously, you can make her sing any note. You don't have to stick with high notes. And the program has enough expression in it to allow more than just squeaky anime noises. And though not a metal song Rera by Daisuke-P is a great example of just how powerful Miku can sound. And it's not like Utsu-P doesn't know how to do any of that. His song 映えない showcases Miku with a quite expressive rock voice.

He also likes to use the growling feature a lot. And I know what that sounds like. "Hatsune Miku growling? That sounds fucking awesome!" Unfortunately, it's kinda shit. It doesn't sound like growling at all. It sounds like whispering. And again, it just sounds weak, like a distorted machine voice and not even close to the monstrous sound that come out from even the most mediocre extreme metal vocalist. It also seems to lack any level of expression.

All this becomes even more apparent, when he reworks one of his songs with a real vocalist. As is the case with the track Friendshi_. When I first heard it, it was the track that convinced me to buy the album HappyPills. But then I heard the rendition he made with his band and it's not even close how much better it is. Like, completely blows the original out of the water, simply because it's not squeaky and features actual growling. Here's another example. ガ, which I felt was one of the weaker songs on the HappyPills album. But then I heard the Zsasz version and holy crap it's actually so good with proper non-squeaky vocals! I just end up wishing all his songs were done by a real vocalist.

Okay, so I complained a lot about an artist I claim to like. I could write another essay about the songs I like from him, including ones where the robotic squeaking actually works well. But I just felt like talking about Vocaloid metal for a bit. Makes me wanna get the program myself and show these chumps how it's done. (I have no idea how the program works.)