Concluding the Summer Season (Sunshine Blogger Award/Tag)

Hi! It’s definitely been a bit since the last post. My lack of motivation and will to write anything certainly hit me hard these past few weeks (plus I started school last week) so it’s been a bit rough for the blog. However, I’ll still be around and coming back to it here and there, so I hope you can stick around! 😀

Today’s post is something I haven’t done in a LONG time (more specifically 1 year and 8 days ago) and that is responding to a tag! I recently got tagged by the wonderful Rise from Phoenix Talks Pop Culture Japan for the Sunshine Blogger Award. I really appreciate the tag and you should definitely go on and check out Rise’s blog if you haven’t! Their posts are fun to read and I just admire the variety and consistency they have towards writing. 🙂

The Rules:
1) Thank the person who nominated you and provide a link to their blog so others can visit them.
2) Answer eleven questions asked by the nominator.
3) Nominate eight (or is it eleven???) bloggers of your choosing and ask them eleven questions of your own.
4) Notify the nominees by commenting on one of their blog posts.
5) List the rules and display the Sunshine Blogger Award logo in your post or on your blog site.

That being said, let’s just jump into the questions!

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1. Have you ever had a paranormal/ghost experience? If so, care to share? If no experience, do you believe in the paranormal/ghosts?

I have never had a paranormal/ghost experience, and I think one big reason why is because I don’t particularly believe in ghosts. Now I’m not about to go on a rant and say people who believe in the paranormal are dumb; if you do believe in ghosts, awesome, more power to you. As for me, it’s just that I was never convinced that ghosts are real and… that’s all I can really say (lol).

2. What’s a food that your region is known for? (for example: Chicago is known for Chicago Style pizza).

I’ve lived in the Bay Area, California for my entire life… yet I’m not entirely sure what food we’re really known for (lol). I have heard San Francisco is known for its sourdough bread, seafood, and even chocolate since the famous Ghirardelli Chocolate Company was founded here. But for me personally, I think the Mexican food here is pretty well-known (and delicious). Any of the restaurants on Mission Street specifically are incredible and I would definitely suggest going there, if you’re planning to visit here.

But in a more broad sense, I think a lot of people would connect the state of California with a fine fast food chain called In-N-Out Burger. I genuinely think In-N-Out is the best fast food chain I’ve eaten at (Shake Shack is aiiiight) but that’s just my opinion.

3. If you don’t mind, could you recommend me some new music? Singer/idol/band, anything is okay~

Ooh, I’d love to.

I’ve been getting more into the popular seiyuu-idol group i☆Ris (as I should) since the main reason why I even knew about them is because of one member, Kubota Miyu, being a part of the newest Love Live idol generation (as well as being my favorite VA out of all of them). But as I’ve learned more about who they are, both as a group and individually, I can’t help but to adore this group. Their fun music, acting abilities, personal backgrounds, appearance and charm… I can tell that they’re pretty unique compared to other groups. One song I recently discovered from them and loved is “Summer Vacation Love”; it’s a nice track that certainly reminds me of summer time (and appropriate for this blog tag).

In terms of “new”, as in release date, SHISHAMO’s recent single “Kimino Tonarini Itaikara” has been on repeat for about a week now. Not only because I’m a massive SHISHAMO fan but this song is just… different, compared to their previous music. Maybe it’s Asako’s more cheery vocals or maybe it’s the huge collection of instruments being used (I’ve never heard the group use a xylophone and/or synth in their songs before). But either way, it’s a heart-warming and almost bittersweet song to listen to. Also apparently it’s being used as the theme song to a NHK TV program called Minna to Uta (which is also the name of a SHISHAMO song, coincidentally).

4. What’s your favorite piece of fandom merchandise? Big or small, include a picture if you can!

I’ve definitely collected a good amount of merchandise in the past couple years, ranging from anime figurines to music CDs to even magazines featuring seiyuu (certainly spent way too much money on that last one). But I think my favorite one so far is a poster I got of one of my favorite seiyuu/idols, Ogura Yui, from the My Girl vol. 26 magazine edition.

I don’t know what reeled me into wanting posters of seiyuu but I have two of them on my walls now. And come on, seeing Yui-chan right next to my desk is just a pleasant sight 😛

5. Do you prefer reading hardback, or paperback books, or digitally?

Let me first confess that I’m not much of a reader but if I do read a novel or even use a textbook for school, I’d much rather use it physically (hardback or paperback, to properly answer the question). I guess I’m too used to holding and reading on an actual book, and sometimes technology has failed on me whenever I tried to use an online textbook, so I personally think it’s best to use a physical book rather than pulling it up on your phone or computer.

6. What’s the biggest takeaway you have from your personal blogging journey?

There are some pretty big ones such as meeting new people, being too harsh on myself about what I’ve written and how I shouldn’t do that, and even it helping me consider what I want to study/do for my future. But I think one takeaway is the most important is the fact that numbers (most of the time) don’t matter. Most probably don’t know this about myself but I have created content online for a while now (ten or so years) on various social platforms like YouTube… my parents allowing me to get into technology at a very young age might’ve not been the greatest idea lol. But anywho, I loved making videos, even if they were absolutely terrible. But the problem was that even after creating content and slowly improving on it for many years, I barely had an audience. My views were in the single digits, nobody was commenting, et cetera, et cetera. In the end, I kinda gave up and quit because I just thought to myself, “what’s the point anymore?”.

However that experience isn’t entirely bad since it lead me to where I am now: blogging. Sure, I don’t have the amount of likes or comments on my blog posts that I’d prefer but I’ve learned over time that stats can be meaningless. Why? The fact that I was able to meet other people who have the same interests as me and actually have a conversation or develop mutual friendships with is so much better. I never got to experience actual interaction with others on YouTube or be surrounded by people who really cared about what you made. But WordPress finally gave me that opportunity and I’m extremely grateful for getting into blogging.

While having more likes or comments would be great, I’m just glad I got to learn from and have genuine conversations with others on this platform. 🙂

7. Oddly specific, outside of blogging what kind of online content do you comment on? (example, youtube videos, reddit, etc)

Funny thing is, my social anxiety even creeps into what I do online since I’m not much of a commenter. Not only with blogging but on social media like Twitter or Instagram, I tend to not comment on other people’s things because I wouldn’t really have much to add to the discussion.

Plus, I believe giving a like on a tweet or Instagram photo is enough of a positive acknowledgement.

8. Do you have any special talents/party tricks you can do?

I don’t know if this is a “special talent” but I can whistle pretty damn well. Might not seem that special as other talents but even I impress myself with how well I can “cover” different songs. There was one time my friends and I were bored so I decided to whistle a bunch of songs and have them guess what they were… they got most of it correct so I’m pretty proud of my whistling skills lol

9. Do you have a topic that despite it suiting your blog, you’ve decided not to write about?

Interesting question. Controversy involving seiyuu or idols is a big one that I’ve refrained from writing about (at least for now). Things like seiyuu/idols being involved with romantic relationships; I would definitely have to dedicate some time into learning more about and trying to formulate a good opinion on it. I have discussed seiyuu/idol controversy before but I felt like I didn’t know what the hell I was talking about most of the time (mainly because the a lack of knowledge on the topic). So yeah, until I find some time and motivation to write a post(s) on that, it’ll be on the backburner for a bit longer.

10. In a game of truth or dare, which do you pick?

Truth because I’m too scared that the dare would be something I really wouldn’t be comfortable doing lol (I’m more at ease if I have to confess a truth)

11. How do you feel about blog tags/being tagged?

I don’t get tagged too often (and in the times I do, I tend to forget about them, sorry) but these are fun! I find it enjoyable to learn more about my peers, as well as discussing some things you may not know about myself. Although the tagging others part is usually something I have trouble with, since everyone I know has probably been tagged/done this before…

…which is a nice segue to the next part of this tag: nominations and questions!

As for questions, here are a few that came up in my mind:

1. Is having a good opening/ending theme song in anime important to you?
2. If you could get a ticket to any entertainment event (past or present), which would you choose?
3. Which language would you be most interested in learning?
4. Have you heard of the Japanese virtual YouTuber craze? If so, which ones have you seen or enjoyed?
5. What upcoming technology fascinates you the most?
6. If somehow an anime about your life was created, who would voice act as yourself (Japanese VAs)?
7. Do you play any gacha games?
8. What’s your absolute favorite anime OST (official soundtrack)?
9. If you could reboot an old TV show (cartoon, live-action, etc.), which one would you choose?
10. What’s one big problem/issue you have about anime?
11. For a person interested or starting out with blogging, what’s one piece of advice you’d share to them?

So those are my questions. And I’m going to be a lame-o and not tag anyone specifically, but rather open it to anyone interested in answering my inquiries. I’ll look forward to anyone who takes a stab at my questions. 😀

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Thanks for reading!! 😀

-al