March 2020

Without further ado, let's travel back to March 2020~!

Pretty much the start of State of Emergency and Lockdown in Japan? Though numbers were FARRR lower than now, like barely 100 people infected per day @@
I was still in my spring holiday but officially started baito!

Omg seeing it after almost a year later, I kinda miss my red hair XD

Spring started to come~ I think it was a day when I walked from Akiba to Ryogoku for board game gathering at friend's place~

I already gave up dying bright hair colour as maintenance is a pain 😂

I still have leftover pink shampoo though ;w;

hair length wise.. same now 😂 

I will stick for long hair for quite sometime, though there are time I feel like having bob hairstyle too but I'm sure I'll regret it 😂 

it's a regret that can't be changed in a blink 😂

had taiyaki and my bag was cat XD

for winter~early spring, it's strawberry season in Japan~

but I love orange most in winter XD

though super tempting, fake strawberry (as in not the real fruit.. cream etc) always not my favorite taste..

but since it's tempting, i do get it sometime as it looks super good and duh, just regret it later 😂

how to be a better human when i still do small mistakes 😂

NOW HAVE 6 CATS and 9 (Persona) RATS at home 😂

Can never have enough of Nyanko sensei XD <3

I don't remember how or why but I just got them 😂

Sakura decoration things are just everywhere even from early February (now)

and they'll just write 'limited edition design' though they do it every year 😂
Japanese actually like 'limited edition' and I'd sometime fall for it too 😂

I just love pink ;w;

Not being a good person; No foreigner -> chance to test out restaurants that are always crowded 😂

Found Jojo collaboration item at a store that specialises in suits!

Really tried out places that I couldn't go before ;w;

I didn't realize how quiet Tokyo is without tourist

Now I'm used to it though, and more surprised that people aren't really staying home during the second State of Emergency w

Well, I can't say much as I also can't stay home 24/7 :x

I still have work that needs me physically

and I'm so used to going out that staying indoor a lot actually craze me..

and business can't survive without visitors..

well, crazy world we're in :(

visited Capcom store in Shibuya's Parco and this is probably COVID19's cure? 😂

so tempting-----

coffee set too ;w;

more food at home.. and finished all 5 seasons of JOJO with my partner w

Though I love JOJO, tbh I can't bare watching the first 4 seasons (moreover reading the anime) so at last I watched it during the lockdown..

And after all Jotaro is my love ;w;

Next is Rohan XD <3

flowers start to bloom!

To reduce travelling by train (since I thought staying indoor isn't as good as outdoor + walking as sport), I'm actually very lucky to see a lot of sakura! probably some is ume (plum) but still, PINK is such a mood booster to me <3

Now I can't do walks anymore 😂

I guess it's global warming not as bad due to people travelling less but it's colder than last year ;-;

Then I'm just too tired from carrying a lot of stuff (laptop to work!!) plus my baito place is 2hrs by walk and since I go there almost everyday = I got the travel pass so I feel wasteful of not using it then I'm just tired from doing a lot of studying and PC related work.....

Ok  really have no one to blame but me for lower dieting result this year 😂

Chance to move around is getting lesser ;w; my posture is so gone ;w;

Saw night sakura when I visited the onsen in Toshimaen~

and it snowed in mid-March!!

That was my first time seeing snow in my baito..

I saw snow in baito the second time like 2 weeks ago!

I'm truly blessed to be able to see it, as in still there to see it and I hope everything goes well to see more from here on!

As baito is at another ward, there's no direct train.

I don't do it anymore but I used to walk 1/2hr to Yamanote line Mejiro station -> ride to NishiNippori -> walk for another 20 mins
Now I just use the closest station and ride for 40-50 mins 😂

I did a P5, P5 Royal, P5 Scramble review video!!! <3

I played P5Royal, Scramble and Pokemon Shield for 2020

Playing Pikmin now LOL

Here's my review video! <3

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zJJx2ojJuTA

bangs getting longer-----

even now or before i still act cute 😂

park near baito~

Since my baito is a school, it's located in a very family friendly housing area~

I can also visit Ueno park by walking for 1/2hr

I had lunch once there~

there were some sakura too~

ueno park is one of the popular places for hanami (flower viewing) to both locals and travelers
my second time visiting after....2017?

anyway, I don't think I'll ever see this emptiness again

I don't know why but the most beautiful tree was at one of the entrances XD

the light side VS the dark side 😂

time for selfies!!!

hehe I still love sun ray most <3

I also visited Shibuya!

Quiet empty Tokyo was so last year 😂

More cherry blossom on my walks!

I'd also walk from my place to my partner's so yea, super active last year 😂

I'm totally bad example for staying home period but I received a kind message of my stories update regarding cherry blossom is nice for the crazy period ;-; thank you so much

I took photo of autumn leaves in December 2019 here!

Either I walked lesser or the wind just got too cold that I missed last year's autumn leaves here TwT

Golden hour is my love ;w;

Autumn and Spring really fill my phone with photos 😂

Last year's March was also my first time working with @emmards.me

It was barely cherry blossom season, but we captured some!

Omoide-yokocho @ Shinjuku was our first stop!

This is fake cherry blossom 😂

hehe he captured my smile! >w<

working with him is one of the reasons I could stay updating my pages last year ;w;

This was at Golden-gai!

I'll write more in next posts but my partner and I were once asked to not take photo here for cosplay 😂

I guess morning (barely 10AM) & casual shoot is ok!

eh? 😂

Act blur and SMILE 😂

I really enjoyed that photoshoot!

this is my fave as vending machine is SO JAPAN XD <3

next stop was Ueno Park but still not too much cherry blossom so we tried hard for nice photos 😂

Come to Japan promotional shoot? 😂

and after the shooot -> off to baito!

By mid of March? Wearing mask outside became a must

Before than, we only used mask indoor (mainly train)

Even in gym, we didn't need to wear mask (then gym closed on April-May?)

Mask is part of everyday life now that sometime when I watch drama or movie, I was like, 'ah, not wearing mask is actually how real life is,'

Or somewhat 'world without mask' just blend into 'fiction' w

That's how much I'm used to mask..

When I started teaching in April 2020, teachers used Mouth Piece as our expression is important to the kids

But from December 2020, we also use mask when teaching as our distance with students are close (mainly 1-on-1 lesson)

Even for school, we could use Face Guard or Mouth Piece from June 2020 (school delayed reopening; from April to June) but at late November 2020, we were to use mask or FaceGuard/MouthPiece PLUS Mask ;w;

Indoor = Mask, including gym

Tbh I don't hate wearing mask though..

Especially on cold days

Even for gym, I'm used to it already

Ok, summer was tough sometime but...

The tough part is more like makeup all over my mask ;w; I do use 2 make-up setting spray but nah they don't work orz

The whole mask thing actually do encourage me to think more about communicating

Now that we only have eyes, we need to think more about other verbal communication factors

There's so much that can be expressed by our eyes, gesture, posture

Thus it's time to rethink about tone, speed and volume

So when I went back to school, I started taking more communication related lessons such as 'Paper-play (reading picture book to kids)' and 'Japanese conversation class'

did another walk around the neighbourhood~

I'd walk to gym too; 1hr LOL

I practiced more takoyaki making skill 😂

This reminded me of Japan's shopping trend last year 😂

So like all other parts of the world, mask & toilet paper were scarce

Next were Pancake Flour, Baking Soda, Takoyaki plate and such

I think people stay home more including families; time to do more recreational activity with cooking?

Thus I needed to order Takoyaki plate from Amazon and may be waited for a week? That's how crazy the demand went w

On a side note, now I'm quite addicted to Takoyaki, especially if there's no Tako (octopus 😂)

I love it with cheese!!

more cooking!!

I'm still into oat meal now!! Love it with banana & non-sweetened Almond Milk; heated in 600W for 1.5min! so it's a bit porridge style!

Sometime last year I changed to Granola but after all it's too sweet with all the dried fruits so oat meal still my fave XD

I received Bumbu Pecel so yea this was delicious ;w;

I think I made fried tofu too!!

Ah, I was watching my partner playing FF7 remake and learned about 'Nomura' (and Kingdom Hearts w)

And this is what I meant with watching JOJO----

Lastly, another photo from walk to gym from home. Taken at Takadanobaba

Yosha I cleared one blog post!!!

At last I can start twitting again as like before, I'll first post in Twitter -> Wrap everything up in Blog!!

Will start next Monday and if everything goes well at this speed, I can post 3 blog entries this month 😂

Ok, let's not hope too much as today I already skipped studying FP ;0;

I slept at 2AM yesterday and with my 'forcing myself to wake up by 9AM everyday', I ended up taking a 1.5hr nap and some brain dead time before freshening up by shower..

Tomorrow (today) will be costest, FP study, baito, report writing and gotta create new YouTube content for baito!

I'll do my best!

Lots of love always <3

- After rereading for labelling & checking how many times (days) do i need to post in Twitter for April 2020, I only have 2 days worth of media so may be i can update blog again before end of next week 😂 and though it's already 1AM, gonna do some preparation for baito & few pages of fp studies!! Go go!!

11 February 2021

Thank you for all the kind support and messages and comments regarding my decision to come back ;w;

Before travelling back to March 2020 (where my last update was), lemme jot down what I have in mind during the last 24hrs!

1. I'm not a serious person but my writing regarding 2021 goals make me sound like one ;w;
It's just that after so long, I learned that having a goal is super important.
What comes next is 'starting the first step' such as getting table and chair to stop me from getting discouraged from staring at my PC w on serious note, started to read my textbooks' pages up to 20 pages one day @_@
But yes, I'm someone that is HORRIBLE without a DEADLINE
That's a big reason why I can't commit to my SNS too
At the end SNS and Cosplay ended up as my hobby = I don't need to rush I don't have deadline..
Studying wise, it's the reason why I'm bad with self-study
Thus having dates = goals mean a lot to me!

2. I received suggestion of changing my blog's colour
It's not that I don't want. I understand that RedXBlack is not the friendliest to the eyes
But I can't
I've been doing this for ages
And I've been using colours for numbers, names, places..
If I change background to white and select all font to black, everything's gone
That's all I can say
I can't please everyone ;-; even if one just come to see the photos and not bothered with the writing, I'm already super duper thankful ;-;

3. How is second state of emergency in Japan
I'm actually very lucky to be in Japan in this crazy period of time, aka COVID19 since last year's March
I got government's subsidy, got a baito that leads to my full time work for this year, still can travel, have shelter have food not lacking of basic needs
I can say it's 90% perfect that the first time I really felt affected was in December2020, when numbers kept on going up that I was asked to not come to baito as often
But that is over though second state of emergency only started from second week of January
What changed is restaurants now close at 8PM
Nothing changed, just more time at home = I started studying (and yay blogging)
I'd sometime cook more though supermarket is pretty much empty by 7.30 =w=
I can't do much eating outside after baito as it ends at 18.30 and restaurants' last order is mostly 19.30
But that's about it.
I do miss my family especially now as this is my first time, in life, not celebrating CNY even with my parents (they came last year in January). I miss reunion dinner as my cousin will leave me my favorite food ;w;
But I think I'm at my most productive state right now. Let's do our best!

4. Child Coaching Advisor & English Instructor License?!
Adulting part 1; I start to enjoy learning or reading about self-improvement LOL
While learning about Coaching, I also learned the difference with Consulting that I got a little interest in Child Consultant License too w
I have mixed feeling about these license though, as mainly they are actually pretty easy to get (pay for books -> self study -> exam at home where it's ok for you to check your notes). They even have promotion like instead of 100thousands yen, I can get 2 licenses for half the prince..
Of course they are useful if I want to forever stay in education, especially the English Instructor one in my opinion as it's a practice of my Japanese. I really look forward to it..
But my main reason is for my own self confidence. I totally have no background in teaching and in my work, a lot is self taught and we got the non-orthodox way and a lot of learn by doing @-@

5. Financial Planner? @_@
It's the opposite version of book-keeping or accounting as this is more for individuals
Income, Tax, Insurance, Pension
If you are shocked, you are not alone as my friend also wondered why I need them for my baito
Well, we do want to teach kids money but..
Whether she means it or not, I always think my boss do give good suggestions and this is one
I'd never touch Financial thingy, until she pointed it out
And would never find out that it's actually interesting to learn
I may not need it in my work (it's more like for people working in insurance industry @@)
But I enjoy learning it as now I understand more about tax (mainly deduction w) and incentives as I need to do my own finance since I'm living abroad alone
It's also fun to learn as a lot of the keywords actually appear in real life. Due to staying at home too much, I'd watch some news in YouTube too and I understand more topics now by learning this w
At the end, I just love studying what I think is practical

Alright.. As always, I can't stop writing once I start
Time to go to the real post...
But before that, there's an announcement (and help) I'd like to make

https://www.swiftwave.io/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/swiftwave.io

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/swiftwave.io/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/swiftwave_io

My partner is making a card game and I'm helping with his SNS. Very soon, there'll be Kickstarter link for this project.

On his behalf, I'd like to ask for everyone's support m(_ _)m

That's all w

As always, thank you for reading, stay safe xoxo hugs and kisses lots of love take care always! >w<

10 February 2021

Ok, like before, this is my audition photo, taken for 2020's in-school audition w

I'm back after almost 1/2 year of hiatus 😭😭

I'm not even sure where to start from.... Ok! Let's go by flow ;w;

First....
I have a lot of excuse for not updating this page ;_;
1. Blogspot's creator page has changed.. The writing page to be exact. I'm having hard time editing my photos ;-; That kinda made me lethargic and reluctant in updating..
2. Baito got super busy after summer holiday ;w; to be exact, I spent more concentration on my baito comparing to any other part of life (including school) during last 1/4 of last year ;w; well, I take it as probably the same thing will happen this year as kids enter new school year in April -> stuff will only calm down after summer holiday -> kids start to come to my school!

Next...
As always I'm so thankful to everyone who always support me. I already broke down in late January ;-;..

Updates from August
-August: start of summer holiday? I remember that due to COVID19, instead of 2 months, I only got 1 month of holiday. So I'll mix it with September @@
- September: I told myself to get driving license this year (as I turn 25 in 2020, and it's my birthday present) but at the end I'm still waiting for my practical test due to queue and barely time to practice ;w; Then I went to Osaka for my birthday. Officially visited USJ for the first time!! Went to DisneyLand for the first time too! Luckily my birth month is my summer holiday so I also visited Shinagawa's aquarium XD
- October: I only remember Halloween event at Baito & I became Ariel and everyone was surprised as I wore wig w ofc another reason is I no tell anyone that I do cosplay w
- November: no recollection.. I think I took a day to visit DisneySea after a year of not?w
- December: another emotional breakdown due to COVID19. For the first time I was directly affected (baito). Travelling also cancelled TwT..
- January: New Year was so quiet but I started very positively... until I got another emotional breakdown w Oh! I started teaching Japanese online too!w

I am super thankful for my partner's support in December ;w;
I know it's late to talk about New Year resolution (nor looking back to last year) but lemme write them here.. It's like another excuse for not being able to update ;-;
1. January's goal (1) - PASSED written test for getting driving license ;w; there are 2 ways to get driving license from scratch in Japan; join a boarding school for 10 days OR the one I'm doing; normal driving school. Then, I need to go through 1 written test (50 questions, with at least 45 questions answered correctly), 1 practical test -> to get 'temporary driving license'. Next is to go through 5 days of driving practice on real road with experienced driver (teacher) -> real written test with 95 questions; 90 points + 5 questions of 2 points. 90 points needed to be able to reserve slot for real driving test. So I cleared everything and now waiting for the real driving test. I also needed to join a 1 day class to learn about first aid & driving in highway; just done yesterday 😌as I've never learned about first aid before, it was interesting (how to do heart massage & using AED). I also used SEGA simulator to practice driving in highway @@
2. January's goal (2) - Took Chinese HSK level 5 exam. Wanted to clear this at first half of 2020 but exam was cancelled due to COVID19. Missed the exam in December 2020 as I couldn't find the entrance to the exam building orz BUT I have no confidence in passing this so may take this again later this year..
3. February's goal (1) - Currently waiting for the driving test. In less than 1 week!!
4. February's goal (2) - I have a list of 4 characters to costest T_T.. I hope I can clear at least one and post it for Vday this Sunday ;w;
5. February's goal (3) - CLEARED; recorded another food vlog!!
6. April's goal - Get 'Child Coaching Advisor' qualification! I want more confidence in my baito (will be my full time job form April)!
7. May's goal - Financial Planner 3 qualification. Completely a new world to me but it's interesting and easy to understand that I'm motivated to study every night @w@
8. August' goal - 'Young children English Instructor' qualification
9. November's goal - Thai Language Proficiency Test Level 4. I cleared Level 5 in November 2020. Need to read the alphabet faster @_@

I'm chasing after so much qualification as I think I really need them to survive =w=
At the same time I love studying.. So at least I'm studying what I'm interested in = easier for me to understand + what I think are applicable in life
I'm also aiming for Translator (English - Japanese) Proficiency Test & Financial Planner level 2 next year...
Is this adulting; TOTALLY NO COSPLAN....

Emotional breakdowns lately;
- December 2020 - mainly because I need to change my student visa to working visa
- January 2021 - I've started studying for FP every night + baito kinda got busier that I just feel like shutting myself from SNS. I'm honestly taking less and less pics and lesser thing to post even for my IG stories T_T I really only have food, even for my own personal photo diary. I'd even forget what happened the previous week as I only have baito & study done T_T well, Tokyo is also in state of emergency so lesser go out too T_T life just became so boring and plain while I want to achieve so many thing but I need to wait (FP in May, Driving License in February).. I don't wanna do anything related to SNS.. I also rejected 2 works that need me to be 'V Kanon' though later one I gave them second chance but I still need time.. I'm also not doing well in dieting orz

Plan from here on..
1. The same with last year when I rebooted my blog; I always keep photos to post regarding each month ;w; somewhere inside my heart I really don't wanna give up blogging and twitting so... at least for February, I wanna update blog 2x (excluding this one. Means for March 2020 & April 2020)
2. I FINISHED SCHOOL!!!! So I really have more time.. I'd study & somedays do gym before baito. Thus after baito, my schedule is write report, study & edit vlog or blogging or twitting! My partner also got me table & chair so I can be glued to do my blog w no more back & knee pain from seiza-ing w (kneeling)

Stuff that were updated
1. My baito's YouTube page; https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCywDBYSSvzbGL3awIdRQwBg
Somewhat using what I learned in school? Voice acting?w anyway, I'm doing like 80% of each video (creating the slides, editing, voice recording and content)
2. My YouTube channel; https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCzIHMF_tntdYoUy_R8anFQg
I uploaded 3 videos? one is making gingerbread house with my partner. Somewhat I take that as annual event (?)w

Alright!
Everything is all over the place but I'll do my best!