Is this heaven, or is this hell?
Note: This will probably be my last (or at least one of my last) music-related posts here, as I'm currently in the process of creating a music-only blog. However, this is too important to wait....
So I've been having a rather crappy week. I don't want to talk about my personal life, but I've been crying and all that shit. When I get in this mood, I tend to look towards two things (amoung a few others) to make me happier- J-Pop and baseball. However, Sunday was a true kick in the gut to me, with this, and this.
I guess I should have seen the Elder Club thing with the MegaBests and the inactivity and the financial crisis. And I knew that Tsuji and Kaorin, two of my all-time favorite H!P idols, were not coming back (though I always thought it would be funny if they came back to do a mommy-themed unit xD). And I'm pretty sure that the Eggs in Gatas are going back to being Eggs, and not leaving UFA in it's entirety. And I know the Yossie and Charmy already have the kick-ass Hangry&Angry to do. And hopefully it's possible that Gatas could go to TNX, seeing as the Eggs are still Eggs and Yossie and Charmy are still UFA, and I'm sure that Mai and KonKon wouldn't be unwilling to do more performing. But this doesn't make this hurt less. This doesn't change the fact that we may never see these girls again. All their hard work, all their patience in waiting for their chance, all the connections they made with each other are suddenly gone, for something younger, something cuter, something newer. When I first heard the news, I was listening to the song "More Like Her" by Miranda Lambert (I have a tendency to listen to Miranda when sucky things happen....), and I think the lyrics really suit this situation. They're all about a girl who's kinda rough-and-tumble and not "perfect" being left for someone whose more agreeable, a girl who tried very hard to make everything work, but in the end never got what she wanted and was dumped. This is the situation most of the Elder Club was in. No matter how much they wanted to be able to release singles, to be able to make their fans they happiest possible, instead of frustrated, wondering when their favorite idol will get a release, it was not possible in the end. And in a way, I think in the end a lot of these girls will be happier. They will be freer, and it's likely that the popular girls like Nacchi, Ayaya, and my favorite idol, Mikitty, will find music work elsewhere, while girls who already have another career set up, like Yuko and Marippe, will be able to continue with them. But what about the girls who want to be singers, but will probably not end up resigned? I don't know which girls these are, but I know not all the girls in H!P are happy like this.
As for the Sox...what can I say other than it wasn't our year? We clearly weren't playing our best. It's disappointing after having had the second greatest comeback in playoff history to see all that go to waste, and it's disappointing to see us not get anything done with the bases loaded, but we lost to the Rays, who are one of the few teams I can say are simply better than us. And it still exciting to watch baseball- the Rays, despite the fact that I kinda hate them, are still exciting to watch, and I am rooting for them over the Phillies (I find it's like picking between the lesser of two evils). But it's not the same without the Sox. But this was a challenging season for us, and to get as far as we did was still pretty exciting- I was predicting us to get out in the first round! This was my first full season as a baseball fan- I started watching during last years ALCS, and while I was excited about hte Sox World Series win, I was still confused by how baseball and the World Series worked (I was surprised it wasn't one game like the Super Bowl!). I went into this year smarter, more prepared, and more knowledgeable about who was on my team (as well as curious about the home town team and their shiny new pitcher from Minnesota, but I've told that story already, I believe...) I have had much fun on this journey of being initiated into baseball fandom, and it's kinda cool that I can no longer consider myself a new fan- hey, I've survived a season (maybe even two, seeing as I followed two teams) where I was disappointed, grateful, relived, ecstatic, nervous, angry, confused, desperate- at one moment I could be crying out in agony, the next in joy. Each team, each player, each fan, has their own story, their own reason for wanting it. After this season of ups and downs and meeting new people who make me look like a casual fan and hearing about players that amaze me, I'm convinced there's no such thing as a boring baseball story- every player could tell you about why there is nothing like playing baseball everyday for about eight months, every fan could tell you about why they root for their team. I'm amazed at how absorbed I could get in a sport, and I have to say that this has been a learning experience for me, and I can't wait until the World Series, until we start talking trades and deals (hopefully nothing during Game Four of the World Series this year!), until Spring Training, and especially, until next season!
I know I jokingly make this connection a lot, but Hello!Project and baseball are very similar. One of the few constant in the two is the lack of constants- idols graduate, whether into a new unit or solo career, or onto a "real" career in the "real" world; players get traded, released, signed, or retire. Both are in a constant cycle of change- personally, that's what excites me the most about them. I never know what I am going to get, no one knows who is gonna be hot one moment and cold the next. I'm pretty sure UFA never expected for "Love Machine" (which I'm listening to now) to be the hit it was way back when, or for the Kids to surpass Morning Musume in sales and popularity today; This year's Tampa Bay Rays are 1991's Atlanta Braves (only hopefully with the World Series title that only just eluded the Braves), a team that came from being last in Major League Baseball to first in their respective league. People always want a fresh story, a new person to love- maybe the new Taiwanese girls will be what Evan Longoria was to baseball this year? But we never know, and that's why I pay attention. Everything's always changing, and I will accept these graduations, this series loss, as such- just a normal part of the world's ability to be in constant change.
So I've been having a rather crappy week. I don't want to talk about my personal life, but I've been crying and all that shit. When I get in this mood, I tend to look towards two things (amoung a few others) to make me happier- J-Pop and baseball. However, Sunday was a true kick in the gut to me, with this, and this.
I guess I should have seen the Elder Club thing with the MegaBests and the inactivity and the financial crisis. And I knew that Tsuji and Kaorin, two of my all-time favorite H!P idols, were not coming back (though I always thought it would be funny if they came back to do a mommy-themed unit xD). And I'm pretty sure that the Eggs in Gatas are going back to being Eggs, and not leaving UFA in it's entirety. And I know the Yossie and Charmy already have the kick-ass Hangry&Angry to do. And hopefully it's possible that Gatas could go to TNX, seeing as the Eggs are still Eggs and Yossie and Charmy are still UFA, and I'm sure that Mai and KonKon wouldn't be unwilling to do more performing. But this doesn't make this hurt less. This doesn't change the fact that we may never see these girls again. All their hard work, all their patience in waiting for their chance, all the connections they made with each other are suddenly gone, for something younger, something cuter, something newer. When I first heard the news, I was listening to the song "More Like Her" by Miranda Lambert (I have a tendency to listen to Miranda when sucky things happen....), and I think the lyrics really suit this situation. They're all about a girl who's kinda rough-and-tumble and not "perfect" being left for someone whose more agreeable, a girl who tried very hard to make everything work, but in the end never got what she wanted and was dumped. This is the situation most of the Elder Club was in. No matter how much they wanted to be able to release singles, to be able to make their fans they happiest possible, instead of frustrated, wondering when their favorite idol will get a release, it was not possible in the end. And in a way, I think in the end a lot of these girls will be happier. They will be freer, and it's likely that the popular girls like Nacchi, Ayaya, and my favorite idol, Mikitty, will find music work elsewhere, while girls who already have another career set up, like Yuko and Marippe, will be able to continue with them. But what about the girls who want to be singers, but will probably not end up resigned? I don't know which girls these are, but I know not all the girls in H!P are happy like this.
As for the Sox...what can I say other than it wasn't our year? We clearly weren't playing our best. It's disappointing after having had the second greatest comeback in playoff history to see all that go to waste, and it's disappointing to see us not get anything done with the bases loaded, but we lost to the Rays, who are one of the few teams I can say are simply better than us. And it still exciting to watch baseball- the Rays, despite the fact that I kinda hate them, are still exciting to watch, and I am rooting for them over the Phillies (I find it's like picking between the lesser of two evils). But it's not the same without the Sox. But this was a challenging season for us, and to get as far as we did was still pretty exciting- I was predicting us to get out in the first round! This was my first full season as a baseball fan- I started watching during last years ALCS, and while I was excited about hte Sox World Series win, I was still confused by how baseball and the World Series worked (I was surprised it wasn't one game like the Super Bowl!). I went into this year smarter, more prepared, and more knowledgeable about who was on my team (as well as curious about the home town team and their shiny new pitcher from Minnesota, but I've told that story already, I believe...) I have had much fun on this journey of being initiated into baseball fandom, and it's kinda cool that I can no longer consider myself a new fan- hey, I've survived a season (maybe even two, seeing as I followed two teams) where I was disappointed, grateful, relived, ecstatic, nervous, angry, confused, desperate- at one moment I could be crying out in agony, the next in joy. Each team, each player, each fan, has their own story, their own reason for wanting it. After this season of ups and downs and meeting new people who make me look like a casual fan and hearing about players that amaze me, I'm convinced there's no such thing as a boring baseball story- every player could tell you about why there is nothing like playing baseball everyday for about eight months, every fan could tell you about why they root for their team. I'm amazed at how absorbed I could get in a sport, and I have to say that this has been a learning experience for me, and I can't wait until the World Series, until we start talking trades and deals (hopefully nothing during Game Four of the World Series this year!), until Spring Training, and especially, until next season!
I know I jokingly make this connection a lot, but Hello!Project and baseball are very similar. One of the few constant in the two is the lack of constants- idols graduate, whether into a new unit or solo career, or onto a "real" career in the "real" world; players get traded, released, signed, or retire. Both are in a constant cycle of change- personally, that's what excites me the most about them. I never know what I am going to get, no one knows who is gonna be hot one moment and cold the next. I'm pretty sure UFA never expected for "Love Machine" (which I'm listening to now) to be the hit it was way back when, or for the Kids to surpass Morning Musume in sales and popularity today; This year's Tampa Bay Rays are 1991's Atlanta Braves (only hopefully with the World Series title that only just eluded the Braves), a team that came from being last in Major League Baseball to first in their respective league. People always want a fresh story, a new person to love- maybe the new Taiwanese girls will be what Evan Longoria was to baseball this year? But we never know, and that's why I pay attention. Everything's always changing, and I will accept these graduations, this series loss, as such- just a normal part of the world's ability to be in constant change.