April
16, 2019
Man…has
it REALLY only been a month? It feels like I’ve been going full speed for like…a
year. Anyway, update time. This has been a rough patch for me. I’ve just had too
many things in the air and been going full tilt to try and get everything
sorted. I think the worst is over, but I’ve had my bosses come for a visit, I’ve
had my reservation nightmare with my golden week holiday, I’ve started
archiving livestreams of a wonderful streamer, who doesn’t have an archive of
her own, and I dealt with the death of my PS4 after only two years. Christ, it’s
been…it’s been an ordeal. To the point where even getting a full night’s sleep
has been difficult for me. But, the worst is over, as far as I can tell.
So,
this month, I’ve agreed to take on an extra day of work, that’s not gonna be
fun, but I should get another day off later on. It’s to help out a friend. I
got all my reservations taken care of and have the shinkansen tickets to
Hokkaido in my hot little hand so that my GF and I can have a wonderful little
vacation there. We also started a new year at the school, which often involves
schedule changes, which can be good or bad, but for me, change is difficult to
adjust to, so it’s taking time. I don’t like working too little, honestly. As
weird as that may sound, I feel…indolent and like my presence isn’t needed when
I don’t have a minimum level of stuff to do, I guess. So, while I don’t like
overworking to the extreme, I like underworking even less. I imagine it’ll sort
itself as time goes on, but for right now, it’s been odd.
I got
my contract extension, which is nice, but the weather here has been crazy. The
odd temperature shifts have made it difficult to predict what to wear in terms
of clothing. We had snow last Wednesday. In APRIL. I think that might be what’s
messed with my sleep as well? Not sure.
I had
my PS4 die as well and two years…that seems awfully short considering. I
handled it as best I could, no shouting, no screaming, this isn’t my first
hardware failure, but still, it was depressing. Lost lots of data, but selling
the broken one and buying a new one seemed the best option, as repairs cost
almost as much as a brand new system. Incidentally, I want to like Vampyr, but
the combat scales too fast and it becomes unfun, I love Sekiro, mixing ninja stealth
with Dark Souls action, and Tetris Effect is a treat for the senses. Highly
recommended.
In
news that makes me want to laugh, smile, and cry, Laura Shigihara, one of THE
most talented musical minds in gaming, if not the world, started live streaming
on Twitch. She’s a great game designer, and a fantastic musician, with perfect
pitch as far as I can tell. She plays music she made, but also takes requests,
and she’s so adorable! Unfortunately, I learned a harsh lesson from Twitch.
They don’t archive videos for very long. So, I made copies to preserve them for
posterity…and beat out Twitch deleting her old backlong by about 12 hours.
Christ. Still, I have been archiving them and that’s been both gratifying, as
it’s nice to have some responsibility, but also it takes a lot of work and
management, as these are not small files. Often her streams go for hours at a time.
That said, I love watching and listening to her. Laura is so funny and charming
and her music makes you want to cry, laugh, smile, all in the best of ways. It’s
been nostalgia for me, but nostalgia I hope that continues for a long time.
Hehe, I have to tell about how she started singing Sesame Street songs and it
got me looking at the more modern Cookie Monster sketches with John Oliver, and
many others. Dear lord, they are so funny. So insanely funny, haha. The responsibility
is another heavy weight, but with most of my other stuff sorted, I think I can
manage.
I’ve
also been preparing for my JLPT stuff and had to buy a USB dvd player, which
was…weird. Amazing how fast CD’s have been phased out, considering. I also saw
my doctor and my foot is getting better, should be sorted before Golden Week.
We also had Hanami, or cherry blossom flower viewing here, which…the weather
made awkward, as flowers would open, then die from a sudden cold snap. Still, I
got to see a little of it in Tsutsujigaoka, which was nice. Nothing beats a
snow of flower petals all around you. It’s clear to see why it’s such a
striking moment in most anime.
I
still have a lot on my plate, what with trying to get back to a regular
sleeping and walking cycle for exercise, classes, archiving, and all that, but
after so many things have been resolved for the better, I think it’ll get
easier. And I’ve loved talking with my girlfriend. She’s been a great help in
dealing with all this and she’s on her way to Japan as we speak. I’m so excited.
I can’t wait to show her Mt. Hakodate.
