| Games Played |
|---|
| - Bravely Default - Paper Mario: Sticker Star - Child of Light - Pokemon Omega Ruby - Luigi's Mansion: Dark Moon - Paper Mario: Thousand Year Door* - Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney - 999 - Hotel Dusk: Room 215 - Phoenix Wright: Justice for All - Fantasy Life - Persona 4 - Story of Seasons - SMT: Devil Survivor - Fire Emblem: If - Monster Hunter 4G - Persona Q - Xenoblade Chronicles |
| Shows Watched |
|---|
| - Once Upon a Time - Fresh of the Boat - Ouroboros - Gekkan Shoujo Nozaki-kun - I can't understand what my husband is saying - Nodame Cantabile - Sword Art Online - Sword Art Online II - Yokoso Wagaya He - Death Parade - Durarara!!x2 Shou - Fate/Zero - Fate/Stay Night: UBW - I can't understand what my husband is saying: 2nd thread - Modern Family - Samurai Champloo* - Silver Spoon - Baccano* - Ryusei no Kizuna* - 9to5 - Nazotoki ha Dinner no Ato De - Sailor Moon* |
| Books Read |
|---|
| - Stravaganza: City of Ships - Stravaganza: City of Swords - Rurouni Kenshin (マンガ) - Creation, a novel (revised ed.) - Ansatsu Kyoushitsu (マンガ) - Ouran High School Host Club (マンガ) - The Five People You Meet in Heaven - For One More Day - The Sight* - I Am the Messenger* - Percy Jackson and the Olympians* - The Heroes of Olympus - Kino no Tabi (日本語) - どんぐり民話館 |
| Movies Watched |
|---|
| - 22 Jump Street - Rurouni Kenshin: Kyoto Inferno (日本) - Under the Tuscan Sun* - Halloweentown* - Halloweentown II: Kalabar's Revenge* - Halloweentown High* - Still Alice - Nodame Cantabile 1/2 (日本) - Kingsmen: The Secret Service - Beethoven* - The Kids are Alright - Avengers: Age of Ultron - Monsters University - Miracle Debikuro-kun (日本) - Jurassic Park* - Inside Out - Assassination Classroom - Her - Star Wars episodes 1-6* - Star Wars: The Force Awakens - A Christmas Carol - Home Alone |
* - means I am re-watching or re-reading or re-playing the shows/movie/book/game.
And now I will answer the usual 20 (I think it is actually 40...) questions to help me reflect on the past year and see if anything special/interesting/exciting has happened that I may or may not have forgotten about!
1. Did you enjoy this year?
Yes! How could I not? I graduated from university with a relatively high GPA, got accepted into the JET programme and have been living in Tokyo ever since August. I've been able to meet up with a bunch of old friends, I've made super awesome new friends, I feel like I've grown, matured, learned a lot of new things... Bottom line? This year has been amazing and it went by way too fast!
2. What did you do in 2015 that you'd never done before?
- Assisted a young girl with autism pretty much all on my own?!
- Indoor skydiving. Yeah.
- Got a job teaching English at a public high school in Japan.
- Furniture shopping.
- Went actually travelling on my own to a place where I knew no one.
- ARASHI CONCERT.
Honestly just so many things - but these are the ones I remember the most.
3. Did you keep your new year's resolutions, and will you make more for next year?
I don't believe I made any resolution's for this year. With that being said though - I pretty much did meet all my goals. I hoped to get accepted into JET and I did. Had a chill summer. Applied for Grad School.
As for possible resolutions for next year? I will make a cliche one and try to pick up the habit of running. I started, but then I had airbnb guests and a friend is visiting me so I've kind of stalled, but hopefully I will be able to pick it up again once the new year starts!
Also... well, this is if I don't get into grad school - and I guess these are less resolutions and more goals but - volunteer at a youth/mental health program in Vancouver, take counselling courses at UBC, pick up karate (again) somewhere.
4. Did anyone close to you give birth?
My cousins gave birth to another adorable daughter who I have yet to meet. I've seen photos though and she looks as pretty as her sister!
5. Did anyone close to you die?
Thankfully no this year. And I hope hopefully not next year either!
6. What countries did you visit?
Berlin (Germany), New York (USA), Portland (USA), Tokyo (Japan). Next year I am most definitely hitting up Taiwan, Korea and somewhere in South East Asia!
7. What would you like to have in 2016 that you lacked in 2015?
Oh my gosh. I realized I cannot put Arashi concert tickets here! DREAMS COME TRUE YOU GUYS, DREAMS COME TRUE.
But what I would like to have is a PS3 and a dedicated gaming laptop. I will probably not end up getting either, but if I was rich....
8. What was your biggest achievement of the year?
Graduating? Getting accepted into JET? Successfully moving to Japan and starting my job with minimal problems? Achievements often come in the little things - like just making it through life. I've survived another year, and thus, that is my achievement.
9. What was your biggest failure?
Ooh... this is hard. I feel like I could have done better with finding volunteering options, but in general... probably that essay I got back where the professor specifically said she wouldn't take off marks for my grammar because "English is not your first language". English is my first language and if she assumed it wasn't because of my essay then... well, the mark she gave me was very generous indeed.
10. Did you suffer illness or injury?
Not that I can think of.
11. Did you have to go to the hospital?
Nope!
12. What was the best thing you bought?
Arashi concert tickets. $400 but so, so, worth it.
13. Where did most of your money go?
Moving in to Tokyo. Buying furniture, paying for my initial move-in fees, getting a working cell phone, etc. etc. I guess this is proof that I have successfully entered the adult world o_o;;.
14. What did you get really, really, really excited about?
Arashi concert in Nagoya. 'Nuff said. Also Concert in Tokyo but that... didn't end up so well so :(
15. What do you wish you'd done more of?
Read. Study Japanese. Work? During the summer, I didn't have a job so... yeah.
16. What do you wish you'd done less of?
I don't know. Nothing? I think I hit a good balance this year in terms of indulging in hobbies yet still managing to go to work and do it well.
17. How did you spend Christmas?
Being a lazy slob. My friend came to visit me in Tokyo so we just had pizza and a ton of ice cream. Then she went off to a private Christmas gathering with her friends family and I watched Music Station Super Live and tried not to break my 3DS playing Fire Emblem: If. Yeah. This is my life.
18. What was the best book you read?
Oh man. What was the best book I read this year? I am genuinely not sure. None of the books I read this year really swept me away or stood out. Although Assassination Classroom was a pleasant surprise. And unlike Shingeki no Kyojin, it has not turned into a total disappointment.
19. What did you want and get?
Japanese 3DS. Fire Emblem If. Getting into the JET Programme? ARASHI CONCERT TICKETS? This year was a year in which I achieved so many dreams.
20. What did you want and not get?
Going to the Japonism concert in Tokyo on Dec 26. *sigh*. That's about it though. Let's not be greedy here.
21. What was your favorite film of this year?
Star Wars: Force Awakens.
22. What did you do on your birthday, and how old were you?
What did I do? Nothing? Bought cake and shared it with my sister. I turned 21.
23. What one thing would have made your year immeasurably more satisfying?
Despite the fact that I did go to an Arashi concert - if I had been able to go to their show in Tokyo too, my year would have been made and 2015 would have officially taken the title of best year of my life. Sadly, I wasn't able to go so, that title still belongs to 2009/2010.
24. What kept you sane?
My 3DS. Video games.
25. Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2013:
"Go out there and do stuff. Nothing is going to happen if I just sit on my ass all day right?"
- quoting myself from 2013. But with the new addition of - "But don't be afraid to do things at your own pace".
26. What was your favourite moment of the year?
Finding out I got accepted into JET and going to Nagoya to see Arashi.
27. What was your least favourite moment of the year?
One of my EAS courses that was just so boring and so brutal and ugh. Also, finding out I was homeless and having to live in an AirBnB place for two weeks when I first came to Tokyo because I wasn't able to move in to my apartment.
28. Did you make any new friends in 2015?
Kind of? Some new JET friends and I get along well with my teachers, but nobody super close.
29. What was your favourite month of 2015?
Obviously November. Not - but really I think it would be this month. December. End of year holiday music specials. Seeing old friends, going out and doing new things, it's been fun.
30. Did you do anything you are ashamed of this year?
I've had to come up with a few lies here and there and every time I've felt very awkward and terrible about it. Some of them because the lying was honestly stupid and I don't even know why I opted to lie and others... well yeah. Whatever.
31. How much money did you spend in 2015?
Um. A ton? But for once, most of it has been my own money :) But come on, move-in costs, Arashi concert, living by myself. Like. Come on. Life isn't cheap and living in Tokyo is definitely not cheap at all.
32. What was your proudest moment of 2015?
I will admit - it was being able to hold a steady conversation in Japanese with my coworkers. It's the little things that counts guys. The little things.
33. What are your plans for 2016?
Finish my year in JET on (hopefully) a high note. Go travelling to Korea, Taiwan, and somewhere in South East Asia. If I get into Grad School then move to Toronto and get started on that, if I don't, move back to Vancouver and start volunteering/taking courses at UBC so flesh out my resume. Relax, enjoy myself, and continue on taking baby steps into the adult world!
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