Frey-ofthe-Arcane

Well, I do believe I mentioned in my last journal that I wanted to make updates more frequent this year, instead of just ... like... once or twice a year...

Anyway, February was a busy month.

Had my last shift at work, said my goodbyes. It was a good run -- working in camp is... interesting. Your coworkers aren't just your coworkers when you're away in camp more than you are at home. They're family. Both groups at both sites I've worked with have treated me well. They're really a swell bunch of guys (and gals-- we're in the vast minority but there're a few of us up there I guess).

I'm glad for the experience. I learned a lot, and enjoyed a variety of tasks working up there. I did some grouting, some admin work, lots of shovelling of course... there's always either snow or dirt around, hah! And I operated a packer a fair few months as well. Back n forth, back n forth... But being on equipment makes the time go by fast. I even got to try out the skidsteer a handful of times. Fun stuff.

I just got back earlier this week from Japan, as well. That was pretty interesting! I took my mom with me, but she could only stay about 6ish days. The last 5 days I was on my own. Key's Adventures Abroad can be summed up thus: Japan seemed full of nice people. Everyone was so professional. Despite the language barrier, everyone we asked for help tried their best. Actually, it was super easy to get around despite the difference in languages... well, barring a minor blip or two.

Tokyo was so full of people. PEOPLE EVERYWHERE. A walking city, for sure. I haven't walked that much in forever, my poor legs. Shovelling and walking are... different. But I digress. No matter where you looked, everyone was dressed super chic. I'd thought I was dressed cute but that would've been by Canadian standards only, I bet. I felt underdressed the whole time. Mom and I wanted to go into a few restaurants but with everyone so well dressed we couldn't tell if they were fancy restaurants or what. And by the time we'd return to our hotel we'd be so bushed we didn't really feel like swapping to formal clothes. Oh well!

We didn't hit as many places as I had planned (mom shops like an old woman! ... waitaminute ... /shot) but we still got a good taste. Our hotel was in Ikebukuro. It was a pretty quiet area, and felt central when it came to getting around to other places.

We hit up Takeshita Street in Harajuku. Dollar store, Kiddy Land (ALL THE TOYS), B Side label (sticker store- of interest since you can put stickers on your hard hats at work!), oriental bazaar, a couple shrines...

Shibuya and its famous Scramble Crossing. My mom was freaking out about the number of people in a different area we'd been earlier in that day. When we got to the crossing... ahaha. Priceless. Found Hachiko! And the Shibuya 109... Visiting that area made me want to restart TWEWY haha. Or draw something in that style. Hrmmmm~ Anyway, we the the ONE PIECE STORE in Shibuya as well. It was... disappointing. Lots of selection but wildly overpriced. Alas!

The zoo in Ueno was super cool. I woulda taken us to the Tama zoo instead (snow leopards!!! Safari!) but there was one critter in particular that had me settle on Ueno: the fugly aye ayes! They are seen as demons in one part of the world (I forget where), but they are seen as favourable critters in Japan. Sadly it was so dark in their rooms we could hardly see much but oh well. My mom was on an aye aye kick awhile ago so I couldn't not go... They had a very nice selection though. Kinda small-ish enclosures though.

Lots of temples n shrines around there too. Museums as well but we took too long meandering about so we moved on to other stuff instead. 

Akihabara was neat. I'm surprised though, at the lack of Legend of Zelda/Tales of merch in Japan! I could barely find any of it anywhere. We hit up a few stores in there. Kind of a loud area.

Odaiba was super pretty. We were there later in the afternoon, then at night. The One Piece Baratie restaurant (again, overpriced) was neat. When the guy brought me a Merry ice cream thingie for dessert he set this sugar cube on fire. They could've gone for a 'it's Merry's soul!' approach given the cool blue flare of the sugar cube burning. But no. Their approach, I guess, is that the cube on fire... Well, 'Torch,' our server told me.

I KILLED MERRY AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

We got to the giant Gundam just in time for it to do its thing. It lit up. Music. Video in the background. Cooool. 

I think we finished the day with a quick tour of JWorld back in Ikebukuro. I think the rides are more kid-oriented, so we just paid to walk around, and it was a cool little thing I guess. The Pokemon Center was closed -- booooo!

The last day my mom was there we went to Tokyo DisneySea. It was midweek. And a bit overcast/gloomy out. "Perfect! Shouldn't be too many people then." WRONG. It was awful. The lineups, I mean. And the showers of rain. Meh, I say, Meh! Having caught a cold the day prior didn't help. If I had one thing to say though, it's that the decor was awesome. Major props there.

The next day saw Key's Adventures Abroad Alone begin. I saw my mom off to the airport then hopped on a Shinkansen to Kyoto. Lots of temples there. Imperial palace too. The tour lady knew her stuff. I decided to go to Nara one day, stopped at the Fushimi Inari shrine first. I made a friend there, a woman from China who's been living in Tokyo the past... 6 years? She explained/translated some of the stuff to me. We had lunch. It's awesome making friends. Then I went to Nara. And I discovered that 

deer. are. assholes.

Well, some of em anyway. I made the mistake of grabbing deer cookies from the first shop I saw, in my excitement. Except that one already had a gang of deer staking the place out. I barely even grabbed the cookies from the dude, a deer was already butting my back. I had to run from the bastards, and was just about throwing the stuff at them. They nipped and butted. Like, holy hell you guys.

I happened to be in Kyoto for the 21st, which is when they do their huge flea market at Toji Temple. Checked out Osaka too. The aquarium was super awesome.

I didn't get as many streetpasses in Japan as I was expecting.
I didn't buy as much as I'd thought I would, either. Biggest thing probably was a gundam for my bro. Probably for the best though, seeing as I'm in the process of moving...

During my layover from Vancouver back to Calgary, I hopped over to check out an apartment. Like an hour later (if that), I get a call back saying I got it! Huzzah! (I REALLY WANTED IT FOR LIKE THE WHOLE THREE DAYS BEFORE THAT I COULDN'T STOP THINKING ABOUT IT OKAY.) So school starts on the 9th and I have a place hoorayy. 

Oh my gooooddd

Next update will deal with getting used to school shenaniganisms I guess. Hopefully less rambly than this journal but I make no promises! Jet lag is kicking my rear right now though so I'm running on little to no sleep -- so if anything sounds off, I blame that.

See y'all later~ <3

_{I tried to post this in camp but it ate like half of it so here we go again :V}

This year has been, in general, better than the last.

... In some ways, anyway.

Here’s my Annual Analysis of Key’s Life ™

And also a table of contents

-Matters of money
-Aging
-Lack of sleep/discipline
-Depression and moving forward
-Roomies
-Cat
-101 Challenge
-Art
-Australia
-The future

Financially, I am much better off.

 I don’t recall having ever worked for the same company for over a year consecutively (discounting newspaper delivery one supposes), but … I did it. I’ve been with the same company since July of 2013, minus a couple industry-related layoffs. Comes with working up north, I suppose.

It’s been an interesting experience. Before transferring sites, I was working nine days in camp and at home four-five days, then rinse and repeat the whole thing. Decent moolah. Plenty of hours. Saving up was the goal, and I’ve managed to do that.

Also thanks to work, I've shaken a bit more so-called 'shyness,' too. Or maybe I'm simply starting to understand my stance on certain things and people in the world.

Hmm...

 Sounds a lot like growing older hahaha. Well, I learned that I can stand up for myself. And I relearned that I do indeed have a temper. And here I thought I didn’t really get mad… Hah.

A prevalent theme throughout 2014 was lack of sleep.

If I could fix this one thing, I’m sure I could be much farther ahead in 2015.

It’s not even insomnia (well, sometimes it is) – mostly, it’s a pure and simple lack of self -discipline. It leads to a lack of motivation, and when I don’t accomplish enough, I get sick (I was sick a fair bit in 2014 compared to 2013… if memory serves) OR I get vastly depressed and want nothing to do with anything.

Speaking of depression, although there were a few dark episodes throughout the year, I think I survived all right.

Like I said, things have mostly been good. There were times I wanted to drop everything and run away. Times I just wanted to curl up and not have anything to do with anything or anyone, most of all myself. But… Mostly good. Or at the least neutral.

I have two of the best house mates ever right now to thank for a lot of that, I’m sure. They are both wonderful people. As were the other two house mates we had prior, though they moved on over time.

Connie was the first to go. She’s travelled a fair bit of the world, seen a lot of things. She inspired me to go skydiving on my trip to Australia, actually.

Zach took care of my cat whenever Rose wasn’t around and before Spenser moved in. He moved out pretty recently. I wish I had spent more time with the both of them.

Spenser is the most recent to move in. He is a very motivated, kind gentleman. Very well organized. When I found out he animates and draws things, my mind was totally BLOWN. We had a full artist household!! He’s taking some film-related classes at school right now.

Rose…  Oh man. I’m not sure if she’s noticed, or if I’m just imagining things, but I’m of the opinion that we are in many ways quite alike. And this isn’t a bad thing at all.

From style of driving (we are both super spazzy) to the way we play video games (… also spazzy XD)… We’re both pretty chill for the most part though when it comes to avoiding unnecessary drama. Both love animals. Both work hard.

I dunno.

It’s hard to explain really. In any case, it’s been a real good time. Moving away from home was probably one of the best choices I ever made.

The year has, of course, not been without its stress.

My cat in particular has been a frequent culprit. She got an infection right before my trip to the land down under. She occasionally takes to peeing in my bed or pooping right outside her litter box.

I’m not sure if this, too, I am imagining, but I feel as though she has been sick more often this year than the last, same as I. She’s getting older. She’s what, about ten now? Hrm…  I dunno.

My 101 things in 1001 days trek was going all right for a while. It seems to have gone stale in the second half of 2014, so I’m hoping to get back on that horse!

I have just a little over a year left to go. Time management and discipline will be huge in seeing me accomplish more goals and crossing them off the list. I’d like to aim for at least 60, but the more the better.

While my art does not appear to have significantly improved for a few years now (… in my opinion), I’ve still definitely learned a lot. I think I have more of a concrete ‘style’ now, … of sorts.

 I’ve also improved a lot when it comes to working digitally. I bought a tablet early in 2014 and dedicated myself to using it.

The IPL/GBU challenges I joined helped a fair bit, as did a blog/journal comic I started up.

Speaking of comics, I got those back on track, somewhat, over 2014, which I’m glad for.

Uploading comics has always put a slight spring in my step.

I’ve mentioned it a few times so far: I went to Australia for a few weeks during the summer!

It was a lovely trip! I stayed with a good friend of mine. He’s an awesome bro. We pet tigers, went skydiving, did a lil bit o midnight mountain hiking and freezing and sunset catching.

And also POKEMON BATTLING. We finished out x/y tradelocke. I don’t remember who won more but I think out of the nine battles we had it was a 5-4 split? I dunno.

I met a few of his friends and they’re all good people too.

 
Goals I set in last year's review, of 2013:


A. Less negativity: Still needs work

B. Be valued at work. Accomplished. I think. They seem to have taken to me. Why? I don't know, but I'll keep trying my best.

C.  Improve socially. Done... sort of. I'm less awkward about it, anyway.

D. Cut back from the internet. Needs work.

E. Self discipline. Needs a LOT of work.

F. Something to strive towards. With school in the horizon, and my 101 challenge... I have a few goals now, yes.

G. 101 is still going. Didn't knock out as many as I would have liked.

H. Relationship. Nah. Close but no dice.

I. Confidence. Getting there. I can stand up for myself, at the least.

J. Art. Sort of stale, but improved with digital works and the like. Experimented.

K. Storytelling. A bit slow, didn't change much? Been learning about people and life, I guess.

L. Make peace with writing... Well, I've gotten back into RPing and managed to not hate everything my fingers produce, so... a small win, maybe.

M. Learn to cope. Needs work, but improving.

The future…

2015 is already slated to be quite interesting! I completed an application for animation school on the first of January and just got a reply back today: I’m in! So, within a couple months, my new home will be in the city of Vancouver.

Sob. How I wish I could take my roomies with me!!

It’ll be an interesting new experience though.

I’m hoping to find a place on my own so I can focus on my studies. I mean, you can only have so much good luck with house mates before you run out, yeah? In any case, that starts on March the 9^th! Good luck to me!

Before that, though, I just booked a couple of flights to Japan for next month! I’m taking my mum with me. We’re totally gonna go nerd out.

So yeah!

One of my goals for this year will be to update my journal here on dA more often. Whether it’s something silly or keeping folks apprised of my journey through school or… -shrug- Whatever works!

See ya soon, and happy 2015!