Chapter 3: Oh no, she's a weeb!

 

久しぶりな。(Been a while, huh)

Can you tell I’ve restarted my Japanese studies?

Writing this on the train to Pasila again. Today I’ll do something wild and only write one update, as opposed to last update. And yeah, sorry for not updating in over a week. I currently only have two school trips a week, and last week I didn’t have much to write on tuesday. And then on friday, I overslept so bad that, had I actually tried to go to school, I would have made it to the Tampere train station around the time class would have ended.

On the topic of last weekend, it was Tracon weekend then. I got to see some friends (which I’m in favour of, does wonders for my mental health to interact with people here in the real world) as well as smack around some people with boffers, and got to try a form of ritualistic Japanese swordfighting. And I was reintroduced to the marvelous world of J-pop dance coreography. There was a random play dance event that I joined (it was a free to join event in the park outside the venue) although I was little more than moral support, only joining in the dancing when Two-Faced Lovers started, since that’s, like, the only song I was even halfway confident would be on the list and that I could dance along to.

Oh, and yes, I do quite like Japanese stuff. Not watched a ton of anime lately, the most recent one is Dragon Ball DAIMA, though I should catch up on Beastars sometime soon. I haven’t even watched season 2 yet (and yet I can sing it’s opening theme Monster by heart. The irony is not lost on me). As for non anime stuff, I had been wanting to get into Kendo for a long time, ever since I learned of it first (through Star Wars behind the scenes stuff), but having learned of this more performative and ritualistic style, I’m quite keen on trying that instead.

As for the language, I’m still very much a learner. I’ve taken Japanese courses now that I’m in uni, and those have started off quite swimmingly, I dare say. One course of just Japanese, with vocabulary and a focus on speaking, and two of Kanji writing and reading. The Japanese course and the first Kanji course have both started last week, while the second Kanji course will be starting in October. I’m going to see about taking a second Japanese course for the spring semester. Funny enough the courses are called ”Japanese 3” and ”Japanese 4”, since there are actually two courses before this one, but they’re just going over the basics, which (I would imagine and hope) I’ve got covered.

Somewhat on the topic of the language, I am quite fond of Japanese songs, especially some anime openings/songs, quite a few J-pop, J-rock and J-metal artists, and… I mean y’all may have seen this coming when I started talking about Japanese songs, and mentioning one before, but I’m quite fond of vocaloid songs. My biggest source of pride as a singer with a fondness toward Japanese songs is that I am able to sing Two-Faced Lovers (wowaka, may you rest well) to a fairly good quality. Better than one would be expected. Now to properly learn the fast bits of Unknown Mother Goose and The Disappearance of Hatsune Miku. I need to get to learning quite a few other Japanese songs, not just vocaloid ones. (I should learn Daijoubu by Hikawa Kiyoshi at some point).

In other news, I was roped into another theatre production. This one is more music and dance focused, and is somehow even heavier than the Antique Greek Tragedy one! Y-yay? I’m not getting into that here, the subject matter is way too heavy for me to start getting into here, but the writer is someone I would trust to handle the subject matter with the severity it deserves.

Anywho, I’m starting to turn into a nervous wreck. I’ve got the opening night of the Antique Greek Tragedy coming up in less than two weeks, with a recording of the play this Sunday. And as if that wasn’t enough, I have Furnavia in three weeks, where I need to perform in the opening and closing ceremonies! I still have yet to memorise the monologues I have! I can feel my hair turning white as I type this out. Which would be cool, if I hadn’t built basically my entire wardrobe and aesthetic style around black and red. Pray for me and my sanity.

I’ve got the continuation of a course for developing professional competencies today. I think we’ll be split into groups today (unless I missed it being announced on Moodle). The idea of the course is to set up a business expo in the Haaga-Helia Pasila campus, where students can come familiarize themselves with various businesses.

I’m coming up in Pasila station soon. I’ll continue writing when I get on the train back to Tampere.

I return.

Class is done, and I’m now sitting in the InterCity train back to Tampere. Choo choo.

The reason I took the InterCity train instead of the Commuter Train is because I’m going to be playing Warhammer Age of Sigmar. Specifically going to be playing my Skaven against some Sylvaneth. So I guess I could now spend some time talking about how I got into Warhammer.

In about 2016 I had just gotten super into H.P. Lovecraft, and wanted to watch as much Lovecraft related YouTube stuff as I could. It was then that I encountered the YouTube channel Snipe and Wib, who made a video listing their favourite Lovecraft themed video games. I watched, and really liked it, rewatching it a couple more times. The next year, then, I noticed a new video by Snipe and Wib discussing the 1922 silent horror Nosferatu, and loved it even more than the previous one. One day, YouTube suggested for me Snipe and Wib’s video on the short film Inquisitor. This was my first actual steps into Warhammer 40,000 although I had seen it before, and my brother had been gushing about it a bit earlier. I wasn’t super interested (I guess the first impression to Warhammer being a poorly made short film does colour one’s image a little negatively), but things changed when Snipe and Wib released the 10 weird and wonderful things about Rogue Trader videos, which got me slightly more interested. My interest was further peaked by the Codex Compliant Necron Retrospective. This lead me down a slippery slide down the path of Warhammer 40k. That then lead me to learning about the Skaven, and consequently Warhammer Fantasy and Age of Sigmar.

In 2020 (as with many other hobbies people started) I got my first box of Warhammer 40k minis, the Chaos Space Marine box. From then on, I bought more models for my Chaos Marines, run as Word Bearers. Since then, I’ve started a World Eaters army for 40k, Exorcists army for 2nd edition 40k, Beastmen for The Old World, Khorne Daemons for basically all systems, Skaven for Age of Sigmar, Word Bearers (again) for Horus Heresy, and now, with the reveal of Lady Malys for the Drukhari, I’m starting a Drukhari army.

So yes. I’m going to be playing some Age of Sigmar. The 4th edition has been around for about two years now, and I’ve yet to play a single game with my Skaven, or with my Khorne forces’ new battletome. So… wish me luck.

My computer’s running out of battery again, so I’ll leave you with that. I’ll talk again on Thursday! Kisses!