Recap (aka Letter #1, 2012)

Greetings, and salutations,

whatever that means.

As always, it's been a long time since my last post, and obviously much has happened since then. That being the case, there are a few things which I would like to mention, or at least attempt to, in somewhat reverse-chronological order.

Back when I was still active here I used to have this thing where I numbered each post (or letter) in the title, as above. Obviously it's been ages since I did that, and frankly I'm too lazy to open my previous posts and do a headcount of which letter this is. Therefore I've decided to restart the numbering based on what year it is. As you can see this is my first letter of 2012, hence the above title. As before, not all posts will be explicitly given a number designation, but I will try and keep track of these things.

I may or may not have mentioned this, but I'm currently attending college (university, whatever you wish to call it. There isn't much distinction in my mind), majoring in Japanese language and culture. Last December, I took the JLPT (Japanese Language Proficiency Test) along with my girlfriend and one of my best friends.

For those of you who are wondering, The JLPT is basically Japan's TOEFL test. Under the current system, it is divided into 5 different levels, N1-N5, with N5 being the lowest, and N1 the highest. We took the N3 test this time, which, aside from being a formal way of saying you might survive day-to-day life in Japan, is a requisite (am I using that word correctly?) for graduation. Fortunately I passed. Not with flying colors, but I passed. What that means to me as a job-seeker is that if I apply for work in Japan or at a Japanese-owned company, chances are I could get somewhere between entry- and lower mid-level positions, IF I'm deemed good enough. Something like that. I'm just drawing my own conclusions here, so people with more experience on the matter may wish to bash my skull in.

On the subject of Japan, our university has this exchange program (though as far as I know, it's not an 'exchange' per se as we don't really receive students) with a language institute in Japan. The headmaster (I think he was) was kind enough to come here to Indonesia and explain the program for those of us who were interested, which definitely included yours truly. The problem of course being financial in nature. As of this writing I'm still in negotiations with my mother and am keeping my fingers crossed.

I have the preview for this blog open in the next tab, and frankly I wish to do something about the design. However I've never been particularly good in either technology or aesthetics, so I'm not sure how to make that happen. Suggestions, anyone?

I suppose that's it for now; if I go any further I might as well start writing an autobiography. Don't forget to check my friend's blog (for those of you who missed the link it's http://jellyjyun04.blogspot.com/ ). It's in (somewhat broken) Japanese, which really has me thinking about doing a Japanese post as well, for practice.

Hope to see you again soon!

Sincerely,

- Zet Valentine

P.S

Experimenting with font sizes, tell me how it is in the Blahbox or comments section please.

The Letters' Return (aka I'm Back)

Well. I know that in the last post I said I wouldn't be posting anything anymore, but life has a way of changing your priorities and views in such a way that your past decisions and mistakes seem irrelevant. In simpler terms: I grew up.
Go ahead, call me fickle or inconsistent or whatever. I'm not even gonna delete/remove my previous posts and pretend they never existed.


  I've actually been contemplating to revive the Letters sporadically for quite some time now, and after a short conversation with my girlfriend last night, I decided to give it another go. Before I start talking about anything else, let's talk about that a bit more.


I was walking my girlfriend back to her boarding home (or whatever it's called, from here on we shall use the Indonesian term kost), where we had our usual front-gate conversation ritual. Can't really remember why (I was rather sleepy), but she asked me if I keep a journal or diary. The conversation that followed went something like this:


"Why would I?"
"I suppose to keep a record of your own life. How you were, how you used to feel and think, that kinda stuff"
"I don't really see why I'd want to keep a record of my own life. I mean, I hate taking photographs of myself, let alone write about me."


Looking back now, I suppose I was being hypocritical, having kept a blog for some time. In my defense, the Letters had totally slipped from my mind. Anyway:


"I dunno," she said, "I always keep a journal or blog active." At which point this blog floated through my thoughts.
"I had a blog. Once."
She cocked her head in one direction. "Well, then try it. Call it writing practice or something."


During the walk home afterwards I pondered over reviving this blog. By the time I got back I guess my mind was pretty made up on it; I even considered writing that very night. But I was way too sleepy to write anything coherent. In any case, before my mind was carried off into that land we all visit, I had the basic idea for this post already formed.


I'd like to talk about more, but I think it would be better to restrict each post to a single idea, wouldn't it? Besides, my back hurts from yesterday's capoeira training, and I've got a book to finish reading. I'll try to come up with something at least half-decent to post the next time.


Until then, stay out of trouble, people.


-- Zet Valentine


P.S.
Is it me, or is the font size a bit larger than it used to be?