It’s probably a pretty accurate assessment to say that every generation thinks the music they grew up with is the best music. I’m sure it’s part of some type of formative years/nostalgic psychological phenomenon thing, and realizing it sure does make you feel old.
I made this playlist a few weeks ago, and it’s just so weird how much these old songs make me feel transported back to ~2010.
This isn’t the whole playlist, but a very representative sample.
I also looked up some modern pop-punk bands and was surprised to find that there are still bands making this exact kind of music. Even the big bands from back then (hey, Fall Out Boy) don’t make pop-punk like this anymore.
Well, not posting for an entire year until the very last minute is apparently becoming a habit of mine.
2022 was a weird year for me professionally. I don’t get into work stuff here like I used to 15 years ago (🧓🥲), but things have sort of calmed down on that front and seem to be going well now.
I am still editing the novel I mentioned in my last update (The Storm). Editing is going a bit long on this one because I 1) wrote a novella in between editing sessions and 2) keep finding continuity errors that I have to fix that affect multiple parts of the story, so edit, re-edit, re-re-edit, etc. Hopefully this next round of editing is the last, then I’ll publish it. The novella is just something I wrote for fun; no publishing of that.
This year also brought some unfortunate changes to Twitter, and if I’m going to be completely honest, Twitter is one of the main reasons I stopped posting here as much. Micro-blogging (or whatever you want to call Twitter) scratched that itch for me, but now that Twitter is an Elon Musk enterprise, I’m not super thrilled about it. Here’s where you can still find me on all of the things, including Mastodon.
I saw a KPop show this year (AleXa, Rolling Quartz, and Pixy), which was pretty dope. I don’t do live concerts much anymore (COVID aside), but that was fun.
Here’s what’s been stuck in my head most recently:
Will 2023 finally be the year of my return to blogging? Tune in next year to find out!
I don’t post many updates here anymore – though looking at my last draft, it seems like I meant to post something in August of 2020 and forgot to. Whoops. Honestly, I’m a lot more private than I once was, and I don’t really want to put my whole life anywhere online, even including this site that I control. But I can’t go all of 2021 without writing something, right? checks date Better late than never, I guess.
I’ve written several more short stories and novels since my last update about Ghost. Reiterate has been done for quite some time, I’m just super uncertain of how it turned out, so I haven’t published it. I wrote a short story with a working name of Cauliflower (it has nothing to do with vegetables) that I have no plans of publishing. I mostly wrote it because there was one specific scene I wanted to write, so I wrote a story around that scene. Heh.
My biggest project has been a novel called The Storm. I finished it a couple months ago, but I’ve only given it a once over and need to really dig into it for editing. It’s the longest novel I’ve written at around 91,000 words, so it’ll take a while to carve it up and figure out if I want to put it out into the world. In the meantime, I’ve been working on a short story that’s a sort of re-imagining of a story I outlined and partially wrote in 2011-2012.
Outside of the writing world, I’ve been playing Genshin Impact quite a lot since it launched. I’m sure that would come as a shock to no one that knows me, but I guess it’s worth mentioning.
Perhaps slightly more shocking is that I suddenly became a fan of Twice this year – completely randomly decided to try listening to some KPop and now here I am. I’ve only really dabbled back in the SNSD/Girls Generation days, but boy, was I big into JPop back in the early 2000s (did I mention that I met and got a picture with Taku Takahashi of m-flo and saw him do a live show at Otakon 2019? Cause I still can’t believe that happened).
Speaking of Korea, Solo Leveling is such a great read. If you’re into comics (it’s a full color manhwa/Korean comic), I highly recommend it. I started reading it last year, but the series just ended this week. It’s in the ‘power fantasy’ genre (MC suddenly gains a lot of power/abilities), and while it doesn’t really do anything unique, it plays in its space remarkably well.
And hey, look, if you’re reading this and I know you personally, I probably don’t need to tell you, but just in case, please get vaccinated. I don’t want to see anyone I know on /r/hermancainaward.
I used to write a lot of flash fiction over on my woefully neglected writing blog, and it sort of bothers me more to see that blog go without updates more than this one. The thing is, I do write a lot, it’s just all long-form now. Maybe it wouldn’t be wrong to say that I’ve lost the ability to write short-form – everything just turns into a short story now. I tried posting chapters from my novels there before, but it’s impossible to keep up with edits and doesn’t feel worth the effort.
I’m writing about this here just because I’ve been thinking about it lately. I sort of miss my little 500-word inspired-by-a-song stories, even if they were too fleeting or kinda pointless. Flash fiction gave me the opportunity to write a lot of things I wouldn’t normally write about – main characters that I don’t normally create, situations that are outside of the usual young adult formulas.
There’s a line in a song that I’ve been listening to for a while now that gives me that vibe that I used to get when I’d write stories based on songs. I keep thinking I want to do something with that, but then I’m over here writing a story about espers and coronal mass ejections that takes up 100% of my writing time.
Anyway, I just wanted to get that out there. I’d say to expect updates there (and here) going forward, but I can’t make any promises.
Life has been pretty hectic for the past month or so, and things aren’t going to slow down back to normal soon, but I feel like I’m at least over the most difficult (foreseeable) part. That doesn’t really account for the apparent four month gap in posting here, but, you know, blogging isn’t at the forefront of my mind.
One of the things I never got a chance to blog about was my new gaming PC build. If I’m being totally honest, the machine I built in 2015 was still perfectly fine, especially with the GPU upgrade I did last year. However, with the release of the new Ryzens, I got the itch. Last year I got the same itch because I wanted to downsize my tower, but managed to hold off, so this seemed like as good a time as any to do a new build.
I originally tried to build the smallest PC I could with a full size GPU and an AIO liquid cooler using a Dan Case A4. That turned into a cabling nightmare, so abandoned that idea, sold the Dan Case, and went with a bigger mini ITX case, the NZXT h200. I am not normally a fan of cases with windows, but I decided to give it another shot. The jury is still out on how much it’ll annoy me when dust starts to build up, but I put substantial effort into cabling, thoughtful layout, and tasteful LEDs. The messiest thing about the build are the AIO pipes, but there’s only so much I could do with them.
Visiting Japan has always been a dream of mine. The “About Me” page that I used to host here listed Japan as my dream vacation for around a decade, and before that, I can probably trace the roots of that desire to at least age 14 or 15. It started with anime (and video games, to a lesser degree), and evolved over time into a deep appreciation for the country and its culture. Getting to finally go this past month was an incredible experience that I hope to be able to have again without waiting another 18 years.
I’ve flown internationally only once before, but flying to Central America (and Canada, I would assume) is quite different from a transpacific flight. Our flight to Belize was a regular six-across Southwest 737 (or something similar). Flying to Japan was a wildly different experience. We flew ANA (All Nippon Airways), which is a Japanese airline, and while we were economy class, it was the nicest economy seat I’ve ever flown in (10 seats across also makes it the biggest). If you ever get a chance to go to Japan, I’d highly recommend this airline based on my one experience with them.
We flew into Haneda airport, got through customs, swiped ourselves through the monorail station (more on that later), converted a small amount of cash to yen, and that’s about how long it took me to make my first mistake. Everyone in Japan stands on the left side of the escalator, and there’s either another standing line or people walking on the right. I stood on the right, like a dumb American, and blocked people from walking. Whoops. Didn’t make that mistake again.
Japan is very orderly, something I really love about it and missed immediately when we landed back at our home airport and had to contend with American escalator “etiquette,” by which I mean one person taking up the whole moving walkway at RDU. It’s not just escalators, either. Most people always kept to the left side of the sidewalk, just as it’s sort of standard to keep the right side here in America, but people aren’t always great about.
We found our way to the hotel, which I knew would be small, but wowzers, was that jarring to actually see in person. If you are claustrophobic, you may not want to stay in a standard Japanese hotel room. I am not joking when I say that the open space in our hotel bathroom was as small as one of the bathrooms on the airplane. The room was just a place to sleep, so it wasn’t a big deal, but it was one of those things I was kind of done with toward the end of the trip (and there are very few things on that list).
The Japanese train system was very interesting. It’s one of those things I think I would hate if I lived there (due to rush hour), but as a visitor, it was incredibly convenient. You basically just put the English Suica app on your iPhone (or get a physical card if you’re an Android user or a Luddite), add some money to it, and swipe your phone on the terminal when you enter and exit a station. We probably spent about $10/day on travel, which is super reasonable, and there was a station a two minute walk from our hotel. Rush hour (and I would assume the last train of the day) was not a super pleasant experience though. Trains are so packed that people push in like sardines (still somehow in a very polite way) and brace themselves against the door frame until the doors close and their place on the train is secured.
Dining in Japan was really interesting for a couple reasons. Many Japanese restaurants have ticket systems when you walk in. You select what you want on the machine, pay, and you get a ticket that you hand to a person behind the seating area. The meals we had were generally inexpensive (some of my favorite stuff, like chicken katsu curry, was only around $7) and there is no tipping in Japan. We didn’t go to any fine dining places, but I generally felt like America could learn a thing or two from how the Japanese handle casual dining.
I couldn’t possibly give a daily play by play, but we got to visit a lot of incredible places, went to a bunch of neat shops, and ate some delicious Japanese food (some of which is not available here and I miss terribly). I’ll let the pictures do the talking here. WordPress’ gallery system is a little weird, so I’d recommend just scrolling down rather than clicking a picture and looking at the slideshow view (the portrait orientation pictures are stretched in that mode).
Despite the way the plane is facing, this is a picture from when we took off. The runway just faced east instead of west.
We went to this shrine that was made famous by the Love Live anime.
My first glimpse at Akihabara (the nerd district, basically).
It was very jarring to see anime so prominently on display.
We caught the very end of the cherry blossoms/sakura.
Obviously I had to go to a Pokemon Center.
We went to Harajuku twice. This was during the week when it “wasn’t busy.”
The sakura petals on the ground at this temple were just beautiful. On our way here, we passed through a residential area. It was very interesting to see how different a Japanese neighborhood was from an American one.
The lucky cat temple had a lot of lucky cats.
Seriously, the sakura petals on the ground were like snow.
You know the scene in The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift where they drift through a crowd that parts like the Red Sea? That was here – Shibuya Crossing.
We went to this bar a couple times where no one spoke English and there were vocaloids or anime songs on the TV. Also they had an all you can drink special that was pretty cool.
The thing on the left is called gyudon and it’s very cheap and good. It’s basically a beef bowl on rice.
It was a little surreal to see these beautiful old Japanese shrines in the middle of modern Tokyo. This one is a Shinto shrine dedicated to the fox god Inari.
I don’t remember what this shrine was called, but there were a lot of torii on the staircase leading up to it.
Tokyo Tower is Japan’s replica of the Eiffel Tower, but a bit smaller. We went up the viewing deck in the middle, but not to the very top.
The glass floor in Tokyo Tower’s main viewing deck.
This was shrine right below Tokyo Tower that had dozens of tiny statues wearing knit caps.
Of course we had to visit the giant Gundam in Odaiba.
It lights up at night, and the thing on its head moved around.
I bought this pair of Japan-exclusive Vans at the mall in Odaiba. It may not mean much to others, but for those that understand my Vans obsession, this is the coolest souvenir I’ve ever purchased.
Sakura in Ueno Park.
This is the best French toast I’ve ever had.
This shrine was at the end of an open-air market. Love this style of architecture.
There is another tower called Tokyo Skytree that’s actually taller than Tokyo Tower. This is from the main deck at Tokyo Skytree. The views here were better than Tokyo Tower, in my opinion.
Tokyo beginning to light up right after dusk, still from Tokyo Skytree.
Tokyo Skytree lit up.
We went to this little bakery called Le Repas a few times. At first it was out of convenience because it was right by the hotel, but it was so good. If this existed here, I would go weekly. The curry croquettes were incredible. Seriously a cool place.
The Imperial Gardens
Japanese vending machines (and convenience stores) but the American equivalents to shame. The variety in these things was so legit. This isn’t a great picture, but this machine specifically had green tea, water, melon soda, tomato juice, corn soup, coffee…the list goes on.
Parfaits like this are an anime staple, so clearly we had to get one. This was at Milky Way Cafe.
We went to a dog carnival (that had so many shibas), but this picture was essential for me to share. It was a group of dachshund owners taking a picture, but you’ll notice that all of their dogs are in strollers. Tons of people do this in Japan, not just at the dog carnival. I assume it’s to keep the crowds from stepping on their dogs.
This was one of my last Japanese meals, but the second time I had it. It’s chicken katsu curry from GoGo, a Japanese chain curry place. This is one of the foods I miss the most.
On the way home, we flew over snowy South Dakota, where I snapped this picture out of the window.
This trip was such a wonderful experience, I really can’t wait to go back. If you have the means to go to Japan, I’d highly recommend it.
I’ve been trying to keep up with blogging, and it’s been a little difficult, but I’m still doing better with updates lately than I have last year or probably the year before.
So, what has been going on?
I have a new favorite king cake (Cannata’s gooey butter amaretto cream cheese (*insert chef’s kiss here*).
I finished my anime rewatch spree (True Tears was about how I remembered it – fun ride, disappointing end).
Apex Legends has been a ton of fun, but I’m really looking forward to them adding more game modes
My goal to read more often feel through in a spectacular fashion, so I guess I am replacing it with “play Beat Saber for 30 minutes five times a week.”
We are going to Japan soon (I fly a lot, but I’ll admit having quite a bit of anxiety over this long as heck, trans-Pacific flight).
I still want to write a sort-of-review about the 2018 MacBook Pro, because I definitely have some things to say about specific aspects of the machine, but I don’t feel like writing a full review. Also, I’m sure the Japan trip will warrant its own post at some point.
Editing on Reiterate is going kind of slow. I’m at the point where I’m getting burned out on it (it happens when you’re reading and re-reading and re-re-reading), but I did I take a small break in between to write something new, which can be found in my last post. I was shooting for April or May to be done, but I can pretty much guarantee now that April won’t happen, and May probably won’t either. I’d rather be sure it’s the best it can be, though, so I’ve gotta finish my due diligence on it.
Problem we face in current social media is people looking for words to validate and amplify their existing feels rather than facts to challenge and evolve their thinking and drive new/better analysis.
Broken clock now exults in finding anything that even looks like “12”. https://t.co/bNs8V6Ho2R
