Monday, December 28, 2015

Over a year later

My my, so much can change in a year.

So where am I now? Instead of the marines I made somewhat of an intelligent decision and joined the Navy instead (I wish I had joined the USAF or USCG). There I'm working as an engineer for the main propulsion system. There is a lot of stability working for the government although as an enlisted member, its stressful... really stressful. However, with all the happenings in the past year I've landed myself in Japan. Yes, JAPAN. I live here, and I love it. God do I love it. Over the months here I've counted my blessings over and over. Ever since the day I left A school and made my way to home and then over to Japan I couldn't stop feeling so happy.

It is very difficult to describe the happiness you can feel from accomplishing a life goal such as this. In fact I can reflect on it a bit as I always have with this blog. This blog has been around since my early college days. Before that I was a major Japanophile. Slowly as adulthood came along I lost my way, and lost sight of the nice fluffy dreams I had in my teenage years. I was still interested in Japanese culture but the passion I once had for it was lost. So as you can imagine, coming to this country as a resident was a really eye-opening life event for me. My negative ways were already pretty much diminished at that point in stark contrast to some of my older posts here on blogspot...

Now I really am a 24 year old man. I got through all the trials and tribulations of early adolescence and made it out just fine.

My interests nowadays have changed a little bit. I've kept some of my old hobbies, and picked up new ones. I picked up the guitar again, particularly for deployment. When you're out at sea you can get very bored, like dangerously bored if you're not constantly working. With nothing else to do out there but play my guitar I managed to improve more than ever at it. But I think the biggest thing I've added to my list of hobbies would be PHOTOGRAPHY. Holy crap.

I didn't even realize at the time when I picked it up that I relied heavily on stock pictures for projects, these blog posts, or just general viewing pleasure.

 

I now have HUNDREDS of these photos that I can proudly claim as my own original content. If you want to count my other photos, then its easily well over a thousand photos so far. Photography itself is a very therapeutic activity as it is fun. Its a craft in its own right, it is very difficult to capture an image that will impress people. To impress the photography community itself it'd take years of practice. But I do really think I can make photography into a nice part time job on the side of my duties. After a few years of practice, a nice portfolio, and some better gear, its not impractical to make a few bucks off of it. Way more realistic than becoming a manga artist hahaha (aah yeah I don't think that's gonna fly anymore...). Plus I love it. Its like the creative side of my brain has been revived.


There's so much to talk about. Boot camp, A school, and of course Japan and the numerous other Asian countries I've been able to visit. All along the way I experienced so much maturity in myself. Over the course of one year I watched myself grow into someone I can be proud of. Man its really really something. Well off to get some Gyudon and biiru, yup one of the perks of Japan is that I can eat Japanese food straight from the source anytime I want, WOO!