March 10th, 2026

I'm sitting on the second floor of the library at my university. Through my headphones is "Interstate Love Song" by Stone Temple Pilots. My first midterm this week is in a couple hours; although, I'm not feeling the most confident in it. This test is open-note, so I should be fine.

I'm currently chatting online with a friend who is in class. We're talking about doujinshi and some R18+ artists we found online who do adult-focused The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya stories. These moments really make me feel like a hardcore otaku, but they're warm moments.

Tomorrow, I'll be doing a skit video for my visual storytelling class. A few friends are going to help me with it. I'll be recording it on my old handheld camera, a FUJIFILM FinePix XP55WM. It's blue, which makes me happy! The skit we're doing will have something to do with McDonald's french fries. I want to incorporate an old bit in it with the "Whatcha Say" song by Jason Derulo—someone gets shot an falls in slow motion. They were everywhere in the super early 2010s.

Yesterday, I sat down with my advisor to set up my classes for my senior year. It looks like I'll be graduating on time which makes me feel pretty good. I'm not too sure how I feel about having to take a Summer class, or an asynchronous class whilst I'm student teaching—it is what it is.

... Wait, setting change. I've walked outside to one of the pavilions here. It's too nice out to stay indoors. My friend and I looked over some of the doujinshi and fawned over it.

A couple weeks ago I had finally finished the first section of the Genshiken manga—volumes 1-9—but really got pulled in by a chapter near the end. It was portrayed differently in the anime, but it's a chapter where Madarame and Saki are sitting alone in the club room, reminiscing over the last couple of years in the club. Their conversation on how fast the time went by along with the relationships they formed got me a little bit. I sit here in a similar position, as my senior year looms by several months. 

When coming to university, I thought of it as being nothing more than I quick journey to my final destination—teaching abroad. I never thought I'd actually make a comfortable spot here and have these years mean something. Taking over the anime club, making friends, and finding an interest in academia unlike what I experienced in high school so long ago... It's a lot. 

Last week we changed out the vice president of our club, and that put this into perspective. As well as seeing a couple of our O.G. members graduate this semester. 

That time came quick, which is exciting to some extent. Working abroad is only a year away, but that also means I have a year to really make my farewells to everyone, where I live, and my own life here.

A lot of chapters have been closing for me recently, all to do with my childhood. Parents getting older, grandparents dying, and then recently my last childhood dog died. It's almost complete. I like to hope who I am will also die and be born anew as I assimilate and live for myself.

But who knows, maybe the phoenix that rebirths here will just be a bigger perverted otaku, now without the restraints of living at home during university? What a funny thing to think about.

Regardless, I need to face it. All of this is over soon, and I'm not sure which connections will stick after I graduate. My desire is to have no social media presence whatsoever after I graduate, so that might cause some strife. I've had some people express unease at my going dark when I live alone, but I do think that if I'm worth someone's time then they should come visit me, write to me, or even call me if that's an option. I'm not a huge fan of constant online streams of communication like Discord.

I have more to figure out there. 

Anyways, here's another blog post after a hiatus. I feel more willing to write when I'm on campus and/or during a semester.