new start?
i'm sick and vegging out so what better time to write my year in review? (well maybe at the beginning of january would've been good...)
...though i posted a bit more about irl than 2014 (i think) most of my first of the month posts are once again just my sc flailing, so will do a general rundown instead like last time...
first things first, most important for 2015 is i got a real proper fulltime job! in toronto!!
place i worked at summer of 2014 was happy to have me back, and they've kept me on. i work for an entertainment company in their shop/warehouse lighting department, so i basically spend my days testing/cleaning fixtures and prepping them for shows :D the company merged with a larger one during the period i wasn't working for them, so they got an increase in contracts & brought on a few new people around the same time as me. we mostly provide gear & sometimes crew/set up for corporate shows or music festivals & some specific groups' concert tours, and also some tv stuff (like commercials or music videos), so although usually i'm just seeing the gear go out in road cases & not how it looks in the final set up, sometimes i get to see pics/videos or what's more fun is when we're putting parts together in the shop before sending out (like complicated set-ups that we make in parts so it's easier to install on-site)
i only know for sure i'll be working there for this year though because important thing number 2, which i've already posted about a few times, is this full time job will let me save enough to go back to japan!!
SO OF COURSE I AM.
for ebi's 5th anniversary next year!! And because one of my goals is to watch Johnny's Countdown irl, i'll be going for both!
And not just the 1 month needed to catch both those things because my 3rd goal for returning was to go on more than a tourist trip.
So will be there for THREE months in order to be productive while i'm spending all my savings (like literally, 1.5yrs of saving ;_; )
So, yup! STILL LOOKING FOR ADVICE FROM ALL FRIENDS WHO'VE LIVED IN OTHER COUNTRIES FOR A BIT, esp. if you've worked/studied/lived in japan! budgeting, language schools you've heard are good, getting part-time work permits, dealing with bloody j&a fanclubs&getting tickets to things....gimme advice on it all!
i know i probably seem like i'm prepping some things super early to some people, but i REALLY need this to be thought out so i don't miss a step and screw myself over royally
obviously whether i even get tickets to JCD and whatever event ebi are doing feb. 1st ish will be pretty much left to luck, but i want to do what i can to make that luck better, so early prepping is good :Db
Also it seems like a few people are moving to tokyo/japan this year so i'll get to see/finally meet more people than i first thought, so i'm excited about that too~
other than that, first half of the year was all about working in plays again, which was awesome, getting to do some actual costume/wardrobe stuff and lighting design after so long, and i'm back volunteering with the same company in my mum's town for this year's musical (which opens in a month!), assisting with lighting design~
also went to 3 different concerts for japanese bands :D ONE OK ROCK again!! and then NMFT again! and saw another group i couldn't see when they were here a few years ago, called TOE ^__^ should be able to go to NMFT again this year at least, so we'll have to see who else comes (and no, not going to gazette, i'm so far out of the fandom i realised it's been almost exactly 10yrs since i even listened to a song of theirs for the nostalgia)
last year was year for friends having life changes too - marriages x2, babies x2, a few friends moved out of ottawa (so many are in montreal now! i'd like to go up if i can...)
biggest goal for this year is of course saving for my trip, but i don't want to miss out on some fun while i'm at it. i'll continue to save by not buying fandom stuff, esp. now that i'll have a few months to scrounge second hand stores in their country of origin ;) and try to cut on frivolous spending on things like treats XD; (ttc passes are too expensive for things like fancy pastries every morning, only occasionally is good) but i do want to see friends in town a bit more than i have the past year and some, (though right now my free weekends are spent in my mum's town at rehearsals so that cuts on my chances), and i won't totally avoid things like concerts or weekend trips if it's not too expensive
also, try to talk to the japanese guy who's started working part time! he's an audio guy so we haven't had much chance, but he's basically doing what i wanted to do vice versa (aka working in the industry in the location of the artists one likes), cause he just came from japan this past summer, so hearing about experiences while practicing speaking would be good! i just get nervous about asking things &fumbling over words still ^^;;;;;
oh yeah, and of course the other big thing i did, speaking of languages, was take JLPT N2~
scores should be out in another few weeks? i'm really really assuming i failed lol. the paragraph reading part was pretty hard, i was still slow at that so i ran out of time and didn't even randombly fill in the last 7 questions or so, and although i felt like the listening was ok, i also feel like i could've easily misunderstood and picked the wrong choice for a lot of it...i think the only part i did pretty well is the short phrases multiple choice at the beginning. but i'm confident i definitely would've been ok at N3 and was glad i went for N2 now. i'm still doing my usual kanji/vocab flashcard style studying, as well as reading through the grammar lessons on imabi.net but at a more casual pace (ie if i nap on the bus ride one day instead of studying, not a big deal)
um.... i think that's it?
sorry about being rambly. this may or may not be more concise were i to not be sick right now, but...eh. *shrugs* when have i ever written concise lj updates? XD;;
...though i posted a bit more about irl than 2014 (i think) most of my first of the month posts are once again just my sc flailing, so will do a general rundown instead like last time...
first things first, most important for 2015 is i got a real proper fulltime job! in toronto!!
place i worked at summer of 2014 was happy to have me back, and they've kept me on. i work for an entertainment company in their shop/warehouse lighting department, so i basically spend my days testing/cleaning fixtures and prepping them for shows :D the company merged with a larger one during the period i wasn't working for them, so they got an increase in contracts & brought on a few new people around the same time as me. we mostly provide gear & sometimes crew/set up for corporate shows or music festivals & some specific groups' concert tours, and also some tv stuff (like commercials or music videos), so although usually i'm just seeing the gear go out in road cases & not how it looks in the final set up, sometimes i get to see pics/videos or what's more fun is when we're putting parts together in the shop before sending out (like complicated set-ups that we make in parts so it's easier to install on-site)
i only know for sure i'll be working there for this year though because important thing number 2, which i've already posted about a few times, is this full time job will let me save enough to go back to japan!!
SO OF COURSE I AM.
for ebi's 5th anniversary next year!! And because one of my goals is to watch Johnny's Countdown irl, i'll be going for both!
And not just the 1 month needed to catch both those things because my 3rd goal for returning was to go on more than a tourist trip.
So will be there for THREE months in order to be productive while i'm spending all my savings (like literally, 1.5yrs of saving ;_; )
So, yup! STILL LOOKING FOR ADVICE FROM ALL FRIENDS WHO'VE LIVED IN OTHER COUNTRIES FOR A BIT, esp. if you've worked/studied/lived in japan! budgeting, language schools you've heard are good, getting part-time work permits, dealing with bloody j&a fanclubs&getting tickets to things....gimme advice on it all!
i know i probably seem like i'm prepping some things super early to some people, but i REALLY need this to be thought out so i don't miss a step and screw myself over royally
obviously whether i even get tickets to JCD and whatever event ebi are doing feb. 1st ish will be pretty much left to luck, but i want to do what i can to make that luck better, so early prepping is good :Db
Also it seems like a few people are moving to tokyo/japan this year so i'll get to see/finally meet more people than i first thought, so i'm excited about that too~
other than that, first half of the year was all about working in plays again, which was awesome, getting to do some actual costume/wardrobe stuff and lighting design after so long, and i'm back volunteering with the same company in my mum's town for this year's musical (which opens in a month!), assisting with lighting design~
also went to 3 different concerts for japanese bands :D ONE OK ROCK again!! and then NMFT again! and saw another group i couldn't see when they were here a few years ago, called TOE ^__^ should be able to go to NMFT again this year at least, so we'll have to see who else comes (and no, not going to gazette, i'm so far out of the fandom i realised it's been almost exactly 10yrs since i even listened to a song of theirs for the nostalgia)
last year was year for friends having life changes too - marriages x2, babies x2, a few friends moved out of ottawa (so many are in montreal now! i'd like to go up if i can...)
biggest goal for this year is of course saving for my trip, but i don't want to miss out on some fun while i'm at it. i'll continue to save by not buying fandom stuff, esp. now that i'll have a few months to scrounge second hand stores in their country of origin ;) and try to cut on frivolous spending on things like treats XD; (ttc passes are too expensive for things like fancy pastries every morning, only occasionally is good) but i do want to see friends in town a bit more than i have the past year and some, (though right now my free weekends are spent in my mum's town at rehearsals so that cuts on my chances), and i won't totally avoid things like concerts or weekend trips if it's not too expensive
also, try to talk to the japanese guy who's started working part time! he's an audio guy so we haven't had much chance, but he's basically doing what i wanted to do vice versa (aka working in the industry in the location of the artists one likes), cause he just came from japan this past summer, so hearing about experiences while practicing speaking would be good! i just get nervous about asking things &fumbling over words still ^^;;;;;
oh yeah, and of course the other big thing i did, speaking of languages, was take JLPT N2~
scores should be out in another few weeks? i'm really really assuming i failed lol. the paragraph reading part was pretty hard, i was still slow at that so i ran out of time and didn't even randombly fill in the last 7 questions or so, and although i felt like the listening was ok, i also feel like i could've easily misunderstood and picked the wrong choice for a lot of it...i think the only part i did pretty well is the short phrases multiple choice at the beginning. but i'm confident i definitely would've been ok at N3 and was glad i went for N2 now. i'm still doing my usual kanji/vocab flashcard style studying, as well as reading through the grammar lessons on imabi.net but at a more casual pace (ie if i nap on the bus ride one day instead of studying, not a big deal)
um.... i think that's it?
sorry about being rambly. this may or may not be more concise were i to not be sick right now, but...eh. *shrugs* when have i ever written concise lj updates? XD;;