Friends Only
This journal is now friends only. I apologise for this, but for personal reasons I feel more comfortable to have things this way.
If you are a former lurker who wished to keep reading, or a newcomer who's interested to take a look, please feel free to leave a comment so that I can add you. (^^)
For what it's worth, commenting is not a requirement of being on my f-list. I am not into the mutual back-scratching thing on lj. If you want to comment, please do, but I'm not going to defriend you if you just lurk. In return, please understand that I'm not much of a commenter either, not the least of which is because of my hectic schedule.
Added Notes
* Everyone uses livejournal for different reasons. I don't know how you use livejournal, but however you use it is fine with me. But you can't expect other people to use it in the same way you do.
I primarily use livejournal as a joint diary to myself, and a simple way to let the many friends in my life know what's going on in my life. It's ultimately often easier to post my thoughts in lj than to send the same thoughts, rewritten, in dozens of emails.
I largely don't use livejournal as a social tool or social network. I rarely have time to read my f-list, and when I do, I am very unlikely to have time to comment on it. I like to read comments that I get on mine, but again, rarely have time to reply to them.
* I keep up with most of my good friends via others means -- email, PM, chat, whatever. I don't expect them to read my lj, and in return, I ask that they don't expect me to read theirs. If they need to tell me something, I have a personal email address, and they know what it is. And vice versa. Just because I don't read someone's lj has very little to do with whether or not I care about them as a person -- and this is big part of why I hate some of the lj mentalities, and the fact that you 'friend' people. Being an 'lj friend' does not equal being a 'friend'.
* I'm a very, very busy person now with my job, and my life is very different to what it was before I came to Japan. I work late a lot, and it's not uncommon to work weekends, and we don't get to take off public holidays at my company. I have a lot less free time, including a lot less free time to devote to both my hobbies and my friends. When I do have free time, I often want to spend it rejuvenating myself, which often doesn't involve the internet. That means my friends end up getting minimum time, and I feel very bad about that... but I give what I can to the people who mean the most to me. And they understand, because they're my friends.
* And since I've brought up the friending thing but my lj itself is f-locked, I just thought I'd note that it's because I really prefer these days to keep my personal life private from trollers and gossip mongers. It's not that I am craving for people to friend me to prove anything. ^^;
For those who don't know me that well, my lj contains lots of random babble from my daily life, including but not limited to the following:
* squibbling about my BJDs, with or without photos
* living and working in Japan as a Japanese-speaking foreigner
* living a low-carb lifestyle, including health related stuff and cooking
* thoughtful musings about mental health and my life-long battle with depression and anxiety
* lots of rainbows, sparkles, and positivity (I'm an incredible optimist, and I love my life!)
I often have quite a lot to say. :D You have been warned.