Mood for 2019

[saxonvoter]

So I went to Japan for a month, and had a really lovely time. I saw not one, but two Takarazuka musicals (they were beyond awesome), and spent most of my budget on trying out Japanese food and snacks. However, the highlight of the trip was probably our day in Universal Studios Japan, where we spent the whole day in the Wizarding World of Harry Potter.

Another thing I absolutely loved about Japan are all the second hand book stores. And the books are cheap. Of course, being unable to resist such stores selling cheap manga and books, I ended up returning with enough Japanese reading for years and years. Unfortunately the trip also came with a side of a really miserable cold.

Now it's been nearly three weeks since I came back, and I think I'm finally starting to get used to Finland and my apartment. And of course, I've been going to lectures again. I somehow managed to pass our Japanese exam on the first try, despite being sick with the cold and therefore unable to study for it at all. Small miracles, huh.

Even though I had a really cool start for the new year in Japan of all places, my mood for this year has pretty much been "perpetually exhausted". Eddie Brock is mood for 2019. This damned winter darkness just leeches all life from me, and our course we recently found out that our course load effectively doubles for the spring. Ugh. There goes all my plans for writing more fanfiction this year.

What about everyone else? How has your new year started? I was without my laptop for 30 days and thus didn't really keep up Dreamwidth much, so I feel kind of out of the loop. What are peeps talking about here these days?

Now, if you excuse me, I'll go sleep for a week.

Comments

[tiggymalvern]

The trip to Japan sounds fabulous - and definitely good for learning, no surprise you passed your exam without technically studying when you've just been thoroughly immersed :-)

I know what you mean about the long nights, but they're getting shorter!

[saxonvoter]

Yeah, although I suspect what made the biggest difference was that I actually studied a lot last autumn, before we even had a date for the exam. I spent the first two months of the autumn semester in the library studying with two of my classmates. Reviewing before an exam can only help you to a certain degree. Hopefully I can get back to studying with a similar intensity soon... I really need to buckle up.

That's like, the only good thing about winter in Finland. The increasing amount of daylight is great, it adds up a lot even in just a week.

[novembermond]

congrats on your exam, also yay a month in japan sounds great!
My january has mostly been filled with Snowflake Challenge so far.

[saxonvoter]

Thank you! And yeah, it was really awesome. My only regret is that I didn't have more money and time to do more things. But in the end it was really fun just chilling out with my friend in our hostels and trying out different kind of foods sold in konbinis & grocery stores. I'm not too big on tourist attractions.

Ooh, I just checked it out in more detail and the Snowflake Challenge sounds really fun.

[novembermond]

sounds so cool I'm jelly.

it has no closing date so even if the big noise is over you can still do it if you like. there's also a big friending meme. and there is a new sister challenge for july: sunshine_challenge

[saxonvoter]

I was wondering if it was a beginning-of-January-only thing. I might take it up if I have the time! Thanks for letting me know. I'll definitely try it in July, because I'll have more free time then.

[softedisworl]

Your time in Japan certainly sounds very enjoyable--attaining copious amounts of new reading material is always a pleasure.

January has mostly been a mix of reading and playing games for me.

[saxonvoter]

It really was.

Funnily enough I also played a lot more during my trip than I've done in a while. Since I didn't have a laptop, I had more time to spend on my Switch during evenings and general down time, so I ended up playing Breath of the Wild for the first time in months.

[softedisworl]

That's good.
I see. I hope it was enjoyable--I've heard it was a good game, but I haven't played it.

[oanja]

Are you Finnish? I don't remember which friending meme we connected on, but my sixth sense for accidentally following other Finnish people seems to work pretty well :D

Also, I'm super jealous you got to spend a month in Japan! Where did you go? (I did and exchange year in Japan 10 years ago and it was such a great experience) Do you study Japanese as your major?

[saxonvoter]

I don't remember either, but I recognise your default profile picture, so I'm not too confused, haha. I was adding people left and right in December (and still am). And yes! I'm Finnish. You just can't escape us on the internet, we're eeeverywhere. :D

The Kansai area mainly, me and my friend stayed mostly in Osaka, because my friend is in a Takarazuka actress's fanclub and thus she spent lots of time travelling between Osaka and Takarazuka for meetings. We did also go to Kyoto for 5 nights, and there we climbed on top of Mount Inari between the 1,000 bright red torii gates. It was really awesome.

Actually, maybe I should make a picture post later because I've got a ton of pictures from USJ and the Fushimi Inari Shrine.

And yes, Japan is my major, I'm still studying, 1,5 years to go... Actually I should be doing homework right at this moment.

[oanja]

It's so funny to me, but somehow I never add people from other European coutries, everyone is always either American/Canadian or Finnish, and I'm not doing it on purpose. :D (maybe there is some essential mysterious Finnishness to people I can sense) but it's really fun to meet other finnish fannish people, it's not so easy to do irl

Ooh, Kansai is the best. My university was 30mins away from Kyoto, so we went there a bunch. I love that city! Takarazuka is such a cool thing, we went to see one of the plays too and even though I didn't really understand anything (my Japanese was never great) the experience was amazing.

Yes, pls do a photo post, I would love to see some photos. <3

Good luck with homework and graduating, usually the thesis part is the worst to if you still have that to write, special good vibes for that.

[saxonvoter]

Right?? I think a good 75% of my online friends are American or Canadian, remaining 15% are Finnish, and maybe 10% are from other parts of the world. It's so bizarre when I think about it. And wherever I go on the internet, whether it be youtube or reddit, there's always some Finnish person in the comments. :D

Kansai is great, and Takarazuka is amazing. I know what you mean though, I've been intensively studying Japanese for over two years now and I still couldn't understand everything that they were saying/singing. But the atmosphere was great, and I'm a fledgling fan of one of the actors and ended buying bunch of her merch which you can't really do overseas.

We saw the Phantom by Snow Troupe (I love the Phantom of the Opera, both the musical and the books so even though we had to go to the theatre at 3am to queue seven hours for tickets, it was so worth it) and Melancholic Gigolo / EXCITER!! by Flower Troupe (the troupe me and my friend stan). My friend went to see the EXCITER!! like 15 times. She left to Japan bit earlier than me, and traveled across the countryside after their tour. That's true dedication. RIP her wallet though.

[oanja]

Your Japanese tutor bought our tickets when we went and we got like some of the cheapest there were (we didn't really know much about the theater beforehand and were poor) lol so we ended up sitting pretty far back. I bet it would have been soooo cool to be close to the stage and see all the costumes and actors close up.

How is the fandom for them these days? Back in 2009 there wasn't much of anything in English, are the shows available with subtitles or is it still a pretty high-level of entry fandom?

Wow your friend is really dedicated! Aren't the tickets like 50€?

[saxonvoter]

Yeah, we also got the seats way in the back, but my friend had two pairs of opera glasses so it was fine. That's pretty much the only type of seats that are left on the morning of the show, and they only cost 2000-3000 yen depending on the seats, so it isn't that expensive. Similarly my friend bought her tickets via the actress' fanclub, so the tickets on offer aren't the best/most expensive ones.

I've come across some fan translations of the scripts and even some subtitles, but mostly it's all in Japanese, so...

[alchemistdoctor]

I'm feeling you on the courseload. Mine's hitting me hard and it's only week two of lectures again. Help.

[saxonvoter]

Ugh, good luck my friend. You can do it!!

We found out last week that our schedule went from lectures twice a week to lectures 4 times a week. Our subject matter is very much reliant on self-studying and going to lectures is a pain (I don't mind the actual lectures, just the going part), so this really messes up my plans regarding that.

[alchemistdoctor]

Here we have coursework, self-study, and lectures 2-3 times a week for each course. Plus lab.

I'm taking 5 courses. I'm a moron.

[ms_minerva]

I'm glad you enjoyed your trip!! :)

[saxonvoter]

I certainly did. Thanks for reading! ^u^