zeldire

That's weird. Can you search by display names?

Anyways, add my LINE instead. My ID is laurenbritt. If this doesn't work than fate has conspired against us.

Yo, your LINE ID didn't work. Says "user not found."

Stop hiding in the shadows and taste the LIGHT

Hey, don't pretend you didn't enjoy our trips to the seedy underbelly of the internet and all of those insane quizzes like "Naruto: Seven Minutes in Heaven." Unfortunately, that site is dead now, which perhaps is for the best, all things considered, but I'll miss hearing about how Sasuke's favorite candy is sour belts because sweet foods remind him of Naruto. Now, now, you can't blame me for the explicit crawfish picture. If you remember, we were looking up random Kuro no Basuke keywords on google using your iPad when we found that blight on humanity. My influence had nothing to do with it.

Is it weird that I can't really picture you wearing white clothing? I'm not sure I can remember you wearing a single article in white back in our college days (you racist). Look at how we've changed -- you have white clothing and I've become a dirtbag. RoRo and Sensei would be proud, for sure. I like how you had to put deli in parentheses, but that sums up a lot of Japanese versions of western food, and red velvet cupcakes sound like an odd choice for a birthday celebration. Sasuga, boku no pitcher. Go take pictures with your expensive camera -- you don't want to regret not taking more someday, although it can be hard when your surroundings become less "exotic" and more "normal" after living in a place long enough. I mostly take landscape shots, but I actually bought the camera because I want to get into shooting videos. Eh, we'll see how that goes. I'm also incredibly lazy, as you know..

I thought just naming my new laptop Colossus II or something would be too predictable, so its name ended up becoming Neo Colossus. Sounds pretty awesome, right? Like the name of a mobile suit or something. The screen is the same size as the old Colossus, but the laptop itself is considerably slimmer and more streamlined, which is greatly appreciated. What about you? Still going strong with the Macbooks?

My parents still have no idea where they're going to retire. It seems like every time I ask them, I get a different answer. First it was South Carolina, then Florida, then Georgia, then North Carolina, and now they might stalk me wherever I go, which I told them will probably end up being Oregon, Washington, or Alaska. What about your family? Is your mom still writing books?

Maybe you'll have to visit Kyushu in the winter then, since it still gets pretty cold, surprisingly.It just doesn't snow there. I also want to go to South Korea and China, if you wanted to meet out of the country. Even though I want to climb Fuji, I'm a little reluctant to because, well, let's just say that what's considered hiking in Japan and what I consider to be hiking are very, very different things.

I had always heard bad things about "JETards" from other foreigners living in Japan, and I remember the ones in Sapporo were... less than stellar. Also, I was reading the JET subreddit (kill me) to prepare for the application/interview process and the impression I got was that JET applicants were generally sheltered, party-prone individuals who treat the whole experience like a vacation more than a vocation. Guess I'll find out soon since I'm leaving from NYC with them next week. There's an orientation in Japan right? Or do they just send you on your way?

From what my predecessor has told me, it seems like our jobs will be quite different. No business trips for me, but I do have to teach at a kindergarten and a nursing school once a month. I heard the tykes can be a handful, yay. I guess that's one great thing about living in the middle of nowhere, although judging a speech contest DOES sound hilarious. How did that go? Could you understand what they were trying to say well enough to judge them?

I still want to work my way through the One Piece manga, but I do have to admit, it is a daunting task. Do you still keep up with the manga? I watched the first season of Boku no Hero Academia and, while it wasn't bad, I don't really get all of the hype. I liked All Might, and that's about all I can say about it. Also, Deku kind of pisses me off and I don't like him.

I have a really weird aversion tor video games now. I can't help but feel that they're a phenomenal waste of time that just prevents me from doing more productive things. I wish I could go back to enjoying them like I used to. I don't mind playing shorter games that can be beat in a few hours, but most games just take too long to beat for me to bother. Anime is mostly the same. The PCT has ruined so many things for me, though I guess I can't consider that a bad thing.

Do you use LINE? I want to harass you somewhere other than this website since neither of us use it much anymore.

Happy Birthday to you too, nii-chan! Here, take this... gem I found in my old abandoned photobucket account. Ahh, the memories. My birthday was pretty good. I didn't do much but eat a lot and sleep, which is a pretty ideal day tbh. Oh, and I bought myself a nice camera and lens. How was yours?

Noooo, there is no other family. Remember, as a battery, we're supposed to be like a married couple. I haven't been unfaithful, I swear! ...Just absent... oh so absent. War does that to a man ;_;

My roommate was a very special individual, let me tell you. She's a really nice girl, but still pretty young (20) and I guess you could say a little on the uncultured side. It was like watching a nature documentary everyday, but with copious amounts of McDonalds, weed, yelling, and bad decisions instead of feral animals. To be fair, she probably thinks I was really weird too. I will probably resent her forever for killing my dear Colossus though. My pictures, school papers, art, and work documents were all lost forever, but at least I've been trying to download all of the music I once had, which has been a huge chore btw. On the minus side, I was getting ready to get a new computer, so I basically got an upgrade for free. I got a nice msi laptop that's pretty comparable to what I had with Colossus, but the processor is a big upgrade and it came with an SSD and a 2tb HDD for storage, so that's cool.

Being back in Murrland is nice, even though nowhere in the US really feels like my home anymore. My dad is retiring soon and my parents are going to relocate to a different state because MD is horrible for taxing your retirement income. My brother is similarly planning to move to Florida and I grew tired of Pheonix, CA is a lost cause, and most of the areas I would like to live are overpopulated. Japan will probably be a good change of pace. It's a good thing I applied to JET on a whim. Did I ever tell you that I started filling out the application two days before it was due while I was driving cross country? I'm a smart one, alright. That's mostly why I didn't put a lot of thought into my placement -- well, that and everyone said that seemingly nobody gets the placement they want, the liars. I knew I wanted rural and I knew I wanted Kyushu, and I really would have been happy anywhere that fit those specifications, but I liked Kagoshima because of all of the cool islands (i.e Yakushima) and natural parks. I kind of wanted to be placed on an island like on the Amami Islands, but it's probably for the best that I didn't since I tend to get island fever.

See, you just need to move down to Kyushu and everything will be solved. On a serious note, I am pretty bummed that you'll be so far away. I asked my predessesor what the easiest and cheapest way to get to Honshuu is and he said that there are cheap flights to Osaka, Tokyo, etc. I want to climb Fuji-san eventually, so maybe I'll drag you up there too. Actually, I'm pretty succeptable to altitude sickness, so maybe you would be the one dragging me up.

Since you mentioned only actively talking to a few JETs, are JETs by and large as bad as they seem? With some of the stories I've heard, I'm pretty thankful to not live near any other JETs.

Yeaaaah, I had heard about the money needed for startup fees, and I also am buying the furnature and car my predessesor is leaving for a good price. It defintiely helps that I don't have to pay for housing. Do you, living in a city? Also, what kind of business trips are they sending you on?

At least you were in good company, because I think I was the only anime-loving student at WAC who hadn't watched much of One Piece. I was very impressed when Kise told me you marathoned every episode that had been relesaed up to that point while juggling your classes. Sassuga, boku no pitcher. Come to think of it, it's a bit strange now that Bleach and Naruto have ended that it doesn't seem like any shounen series have become as popular, besides maybe Boku no Hero Academia, but I don't know much about that show aside from the few episodes I've watched.

Pffffhhht, you and your Otome games. The real question is, have you played Amnesia so Touma can stuff you into an animal cage-- but remember, it's for your own good so you don't get hurt! Eh, I wanted to like FFXV but didn't end up enjoying it except for the really weird secret dungeon that is all intricate puzzles and platforming with no enemies. I tried doing one of the other post game dungeons that was full of tonberries and figured out after playing for a few hours without reaching the boss that the dungeon was 100 floors. After that, I quit and never played it again. Also, I only successfully landed the flying car once. How is DB Super?

Hello dearest pitcher.

Once again I am a terrible brother who has forsaken his dearest twin for far too long. I do kind of have an excuse though. I mostly haven't been online for the past few months because my dumbass roommate killed my computer and she just bought me a new one because she's prretty poor (i.e bad with money). I had some stuff backed up on external harddrives, but a majority of my pictures, music, documents, etc are gone forever. Sometimes I feel like the universe has been activiely pushing me towards of life of being a vagabond who lives in the woods with a dog, a gun, and a pack. Couldn't you see it? I rather like to think I'd make a good hobo. My family says they're always waiting for it to happen because it seems so inevitable. I'll do better in the future though. I just quit my job and am packing up to drive back to MD.

BUT BUT BUT, far more optimistically, I got shortlisted for JET and got my placement. I'll be in Kagoshima-ken, Kimotsuki-cho.

The interview was... interesting? I wasn't sure at the time whether it went well or not because I didn't get asked any of the questions I expected based on what others said were typically asked. Instead of being asked why I wanted to go to Japan, what my teaching experience was, how I would handle different situations, why I selected my specific placement choices, how I would represent America abroad, etc... they asked me about the outdoors. Not even kidding, we talked about the PCT, Japanese hiking culture, what outdoor activites I did in Sapporo, how I would relate those expeiences as a teaching opportunity, and so on. I think they liked my answers because they smiled, laughed, and the whole interview was more of a conversation than an interview. Well, I guess I should have guessed it went well when the ASU Japanese professor told me I must be a good person for liking unagi sushi.

I'm pretty happy about my placement results since Kagoshima was my number one choice and I did specify rural so I could have a comfy Japanese countryside life. On the downside, I guess this means I'm a municipal JET, so it's probably elementary and/or jr. high for me. I hope they know I know nothing about teaching kids, dammit.

If you have any more sage-like advice for me, I'll gladly receive it.

As far as my language skills are concerned, they've improved in some areas and worsened in others. My reading and writing ability has improved thanks to my Japanese friends harassing me with messages in that rythmn game I play and I also finished playing Persona 5, Nier, and Nier Automata in Japanese a while back, which has considerable amount of dialogue to sift through. I  didn't understand everything, but the fact that I understood the gist of the story was a good sign because I was waaay too lazy to look up the kanji I didn't know unless it was absolutely necessary. Conversely though, I can't speak Japanese at all anymore due to lack of practice. Well, if anyone tries to speak to me I'll just be like, "nihongo wakarimasen lol" and they'll just assume I'm a stupid American that can't think of anything but hamburgers.

And I know you -- you're too modest. You're probably over in Japan publishing your Japanese One Piece fanfictions on futaba or something.

Speaking of Once Piece, I'm glad it's still something you enjoy. I can't even imagine how much my image of you would have to be reformatted if you had told me you dislike it now or something. As for me, well, modern anime is kind of dead to me. It just feels like the medium has completely stagnated and most of the shows nowadays are just not made to pander to people like me. I've been playing more games lately to compensate. How about you? Didn't you say you bought a PS4 or something a while back?