Happy New Year! 明けましておめでとう

オッス、みんな！アッビです。

Hey, What’s up my faithful readers of this galaxy and beyond, how is your life? (I get bored with boring blog beginnings, okay...) This is Midori/Abby, signing on for another blog update.

I know I haven’t posted a blog in like half a century, so you guys might have given up on me and gone off to go watch YouTube videos or be Tumblr addicts or Tweet about your current location…I don’t know what you do in your spare time. But anyway, I’m back, so that’s the important thing!

Who even reads this blog anyway? Like, are there actually people listening to me, a random teenage Japanophile, go on about life and Japan and my unaverage life in America and learning Japanese and stuff? I know there are a few of you, so I thank you for tuning in and I promise not to disappoint you. :D

           Updates From My Life (A.K.A My lame excuses for not posting):

-I just got back from the wild land of Maine, where I was visiting my family for Christmas. I was not eaten alive by my relatives, although there were some close calls, so there is no need to worry! We did have a white Christmas there, which was very lovely。

-Midterms are coming up, which means I am doing a lot less procrastinating than usual, and my grades are looking pretty good. We’re reading this huge book in English called the Grapes of Wrath, by the same author of that one book about mice, and I have to do an essay on it.

-There was Christmas, and I got lots of amazing things from my relatives, because that’s what relatives do. <3

I got a purple dress coat, the whole season collection of Fruits Basket, which I have already finished completely, some new pajamas, another Japanese music CD, a Taylor Swift CD and a calendar. But the best present of all was probably a duffel bag with wheels. You may ask “Why in the name of heaven is THAT your best Christmas present, Midori-chan?” Well, if you were with me at Mori No Ike (summer camp) last year, you will know exactly why. I had an unfortunate incident with my old duffel when I was extracting it from the bottom of the luggage pile, which involved me dropping it on my unfortunate camp counselor, who was then kind enough to help me with it. (Arigatou, Ryou-sensei!) I’m not even sure he remembers that, but I am still humiliated about it to this day. When I got home I complained that I needed a better one, and figured I would just have to live with it. But my Dad took it into his consideration to buy me a new one with wheels that is easier to maneuver in order to save me further humiliation.

  The whole duffel story is kind of a joke between me and anyone who knows about it, so it was a great gift.  

Oh wait, I can’t believe I almost forgot….

HAPPY NEW YEAR~

And to my readers familiar with 日本語、I would like to say

明けましておめでとうございます。

今年もよろしくお願いします〜

Yatto nisenjuusan nen desu yo!! It’s finally 2013! We survived 2012, against the odds.

Everybody had really, really pretty fireworks displays all over the world, I watched them on YouTube after I finished with the usual one in Time’s Square. Some of my favorites besides USA and 日本（Japan) included Dubai, where the world’s largest tower was lit up tier by tier with pyrotechnics, and London, which was just a spectacular show. China as usual was a spectacle as well, and Seoul, South Korea had this really neat gong/drum thing that I would really like to learn how to play someday. People in my own neck of the woods decided that it would be nice to shoot off their own displays long into the night… 0.o’ 

London Fireworks

     

Dubai

So of course, like everybody else, I have made some New Years Resolutions, sort of. I actually didn’t think of them until last minute, but they still count.

1)                      Improve my YouTube channel. This will involve remaking some Japanese lessons and making lessons frequently and taking lots of suggestions from you guys. By the way, did you know that there’s almost 1000 of you? That’s right, my subscriber count is going to hit 1K soon, and I am majorly psyched. 登録してくれてどうもありがとうございます〜

2)                      Write a novel. I don’t know, I just feel like doing this. If I could at least get a good start on one, it would make me happy. I wrote one in 5^th grade, but I want to see how my writing style has changed, and plus I feel like it will keep my English up to par with my Japanese (lol). The more I study Japanese, the more my English deteriorates. Soon I’ll need to go to English camp!

3)                      Make more friends and stay in touch with them! I want to continue to make more friends from all over the world, because you guys are amazing, and also to make a bit more of an effort to be less of the “weird girl” at school. Actually no, I want to be MORE of the “weird girl” that I am because it attracts other weird nerdy people like me, and I love that! So yeah, if you’re a language nerd or an internet nerd or any other kind of nerd, you are awesome in my book and I assure you we will get along splendidly. I also want to keep in touch with my friends from Mori no Ike, because you guys are my sisters and my best besties and you are part of the select few people on the planet who understand who I am and love me for it <3 Yes, I’m talking about my awesome cabinmates, and I will see you guys in June, which is about 5 and a half months away!!! And all the Mori Sensei, I’m excited to see you guys too because you’re my role models!! And pretty dang awesome too xD

4)                      To improve my Japanese and become more fluent. MORE fluent being the key word, because I don’t expect to gain total fluency in 365 days. That has been my resolution last year as well, and I have come to learn that it is just plain ridiculous to expect that much improvement.

5)                      Write lots of blogs for you guys!!

SO, 皆さん、What are your plans for the new year?

Leave a comment below and let me know!
(ugh, I hate it when I inadvertently rhyme things…)

Also if you want to follow me on Instagram my ID is MidoriAbby, and if you have language related questions email me at TheLanguageHelp@gmail.com and my youtube is RanAbvideo for Japanese lessons.

〜ミドリ