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Hobby Hovel: Two Years Later

 

Whew, another year has come and past, and a what a year it has been! So much has happened since last October that it’s hard to wrap my head around. But hey, what better way make sense of it all than to make a tl;dr post of epic proportions? So without further ado, I give you a dense reflection on myself, Hobby Hovel, and everything in-between.

(Artist: はら)

State of the Chag

I hear a lot of people say that the college years are the best parts of one’s life. I, on the other hand, have had no such pleasure. There’s no point in giving out my life’s story of the past four years, but let’s just say it was less than pleasant. Now I’m out of school and working at a community college as a “reproduction equipment operators” — a fancy way of saying I work the scanners and printers. It sure as hell isn’t a job that requires a degree, yet I’m strangely happy about my current situation — perhaps too happy. Is it a job that I would want to stay in for the rest of my life? Naw, but it is stress-free, is relatively stable, and pays enough to support myself, so I’d say it’s not a bad gig for given the current economic circumstances. I find that I’m in a much better mood these days without the constant gloom of readings and assignments hovering above my head, so now I’m just going to focus on saving up the money to move out and probably take some courses to transition out of this printing gig when I’m ready.

For those of you who follow Tomopop, you might have noticed the smug mug of a certain hat-wearing guy with a name that’s awfully similar to Chag. Yep, that’s me posting as an associate editor. Writing for Tomopop has been a very different experience. It certainly isn’t as rewarding as working on my own blog, but it’s also an interesting experience in its own right. It’s nice to have an alternative soap-box and a different audience, even if the interactions feel less intimate than on my home turf.

As far as the hobby goes, this year has been pretty quiet, and that’s mainly because of the lack of any recent anime that made enough of an impression to have me for me to suit up and do battle with the horrible yen exchange rate. I enjoyed K-ON!, Bakemonogatari and Madoka, but for one reason or another they always came out just a little short. This is especially the case with Madoka. I may have defended GSC’s scaled figure before, but at the end of the day I still can’t bring myself to buy any of them because the art style still bothers me.

Another factor influencing the slowdown of my collection is my family situation. Once again it’s a story that I don’t want to elaborate on, but doing figure-related things in the house is very hard now. I would have gotten a couple of figures that I mildly want like Alter’s Black Hanekawa, but given the state of affairs, I figured that it just wasn’t worth the risk. This is also affecting my contribution Tomopop, because since I won’t be able to reliably take review photos, I can’t really bring myself to ask for any review samples, which is a big part of the incentive for the position. This means I don’t bring  myself to contribute as often as I would otherwise (not that I’m losing sleep over the prospect of not being able to work for other people).

This is not to say that I’m putting a stop to the figure hobby, though — there are some things that I definitely can’t pass up. I’ve got that new Aigis from Alter on pre-order, and when the swimsuit Selvaria goes up, I’m going to be all over that as well. Sadly that those won’t arrive until next year, which does leave a gap between now and then. Oh well~

Photography

Over the past year, I’ve begun doing something that I never thought I’d do when I started the blog two years ago — taking outdoor figures photos. Shooting outside is the double-edged sword for me. Every time I’ve ventured outside with my camera and figures I’ve come back with at some photos that I really like. Perhaps it’s the novelty factor doing its work, but I can’t help but to smile at the outdoors World is Mine Miku and Danbo shots. My favourite of the bunch is undoubtedly the Summer Saber shots, one of which was fortunate enough to not only nab POTD, but also POTW and POTM on MFC. To a novice photographer like me, the affirmation from all that felt like an amazing handjob on my ego. Awww yeah.

On the other hand, letting loose my power level on the unsuspecting general populace is still something that I’m not at all comfortable with, but given the right context, I can grit my teeth and tough it out, especially if a hiding spot is nearby or if there’s a choice shot to be had in the end to justify my efforts. In conclusion: I still think Ashlotte is crazy for taking all those outdoor shots, but now he seems less crazy than previously imagined.

With that said, indoor shooting is still where I’m most comfortable. There’s no substituting the control that and indoor setup grants. As nice as that Saber shot turned out, nature is a fickle bastard. When I came back to the same spot a couple weeks later with Miette-chan and Exilehero, the stream has a shadow of its former self. Plus, given the variables such as weather, time of day and the presence of onlookers, the great outdoors is rather unpredictable, for better or for worse. Yet when I need to crank out a full set of photos for a review, I need that reliability.

But after 2 years of shooting in front of flat backdrops, the shtick is getting old. I’d very much like to play around with a different setup, perhaps with Plexiglas on the bottom and less constrained lighting. Sounds reasonable, right? Well, the problem with graduating out of my trusty collapsible light box is that I would need a dedicated space to put my new setup, and that isn’t happening as long as I live with my folks. The good news is that I already have plans on moving out. The bad news is that plan can’t be executed until next June — an eternity away. Until then, I’ll be in a rather awkward spot when it comes to taking photos. This is not to say that there won’t be photos, but I’ll have to figure something out first.

Double H

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cyeMT4ZWEww

The second year at Hobby Hovel also saw the beginning of Double H, a confused little project that I am ultimately very grateful for. My intention with the show was to add a personal dimension to an otherwise impersonal blogging atmosphere. I often find textual communication is limited, and ambiguities of meaning are commonplace. Yet with an exclusively online crowd like us, text is all we’ve got. That’s mostly the reason why I decided to venture into the realm of audio — though it, you now have a better idea of what Ash and I are like.

Of course, soon after I started I realized that I’m not exactly spectacular at this whole talking into a microphone thing. This bothered me a lot, because I really didn’t want Double H to become something that our regular readers have to slog through. I tried to improve, and I think I was successful to a small degree. There’s still a lot of work to do in the future to cure my rusty tongue, but I’ll take it as they come.

One of the best thing to come out of Double H is being able to talk to Ash on Skype. This may not seem like much, but the addition of voice was like getting to know him all over again because of how differently people seem on the microphone as opposed to on the keyboard, and I find myself respecting him more now that I know the way he speaks. Also, the connection through Skype also eventually led to us playing League of Legends together, which then brought others like Hamstercorp and Ohnoraptors whom we had the pleasure of playing with and becoming more closely acquainted with. All this coming out of my silly little talk-show idea — not too shabby at all, I’d say!

My current thoughts about Double H itself are mixed. I really enjoy the Q&A segments because they feel the most conversational. Conversely, talking about pre-orders and last season’s anime are a lot less so. There are plenty of moments where I have a lot of fun goofing off with Ash on the microphone, but the overall structure of it feels like a presentation. I wish we had an audience large enough for a live podcast of sorts where we could interact with the listeners directly, but that’s probably asking too much out of the small niche figure community and my ability to speak off the top of my head. Like the photography situation, Double H is also something I have to contemplate in the coming weeks.

The Current Status

So how’s the blog doing these days, you ask? Well, I’ve got some numbers for the stat whores (you know what you are!): the blog gets around 3000 unique visitors and 10,000 pageviews a month and there are around 75 people subscribed to the RSS feed, along with 50 on the YouTube channel. I actually haven’t checked the stats for quite a while, so I was surprised to see that the numbers haven’t fallen significantly over the slow past month.

You might have notice that the blog has been quiet recently. I’ve mentioned some of my reasons above, and without going into any details, Ashlotte is also tied up with thing in life that he’d rather not be doing. So to put it simply: both of us want to work on the blog, but for our own reasons, that order is proving to be difficult for the time being.

When Ashlotte told me that he had cancelled the bulk of the figures he had on pre-order and is planning to severely cutting down on the figure hobby due to money/space constraints, I wasn’t fazed at all. Rather, after two years of working on the blog and over a year working with Ash, figures have shifted from an end in of itself to a means to a different end. Over the past year I’ve had the pleasure to talk and play with many of you and even meet up with some of you, and in the coming year I’m planning to meet yet more of you. When I’ve had luck like this, would it matter if Ash won’t be putting out as many reviews in the future? Nah, stressing over that seems trivial at this point. What’s important is that though the blog I’ve made one dear friend amongst many — a friend who lives over a thousand miles away, yet a dear friend nonetheless.

So what happens now? Well, as I mentioned above, there’s a lot of figuring out to do on my part, and Ash has his unpleasantness to deal with as well, so things may remain quiet for a while. I know that’s how a lot of blogs die out, but fear not — just keep us on your RSS feed and you’ll know when we return to business.

Anyhow, thank you guys for another fun and rewarding year! As my interest shift from figures to the people behind the figures, your comments and tweets have become even more integral to the experience. There’s nothing quite like waking up in the morning to find a bunch of comment notifications in my email inbox, and I have you guys to thank for that. Here’s to all the memories made in the past the all the memories to be made in the future!

28 replies on “Hobby Hovel: Two Years Later”

Hmm… you know I agree with the college years being the best and so on. I did meet exilehero and other friends with the same interests. Anyways, I agree on the scaled figure department, all the scaled figures I have on pre-order are from old stuff. Touhou, Guilty Gear, P3 and Working!! have been out for a while after all, nothing really tickles my fancy that much from the new stuff.

I like going outside, the sun is just plain magical as a light source. I do agree on the unpredictability of going outside, there is also the lack of feeling of control you get in an inside set up. Do try more outside pictures, if I had your nice green nature I would do it more often.

I’m grateful for Double H, for the longest time I had trouble commenting here. I found it to be like trying to break into a group of established friends, when I commented I felt like an outsider. After Double H though, you and Ash suddenly felt more open. May be it was hearing your voices or hearing you actually talk about silly stuff rather than reading it.

HobbyHovel better not die, I find it increasingly discouraging when blogs I like to read just whittle away.

Interesting comment though at the end, I think my interests might be shifting to the people behind the figures too rather than the figures themselves. I should make an effort to be more social with my fellow figure bloggers.

Now then, for your tl;dr post here is my tl;dr comment:

Happy second anniversary, I look forward to next June.

Oh yeah, I’m sure the college years are a freaking blast for most people — just not me. Maybe missing frosh week was a big mistake on my part, or maybe my personality just isn’t good for mingling, but whatever the case I got the short end of the stick. I think I’m going to re-word that bit.

Yeah, I’m definitely going to try to at least squeeze in a few outdoor shots in my future reviews. I like the mix I had going on in the Summer Saber review, so in all likelihood that’s going to become the norm when things get going again.

Oh yay, I’m really glad that Double H did something good! I did feel closer to Ash after hearing his voice, and it would seem that a similar effect applies to others as well. I think a person’s voice just has a more reassuring effect, because underneath the dog avatar and the overly-wordy reviews, you now know there’s a goofy-sounding behind it all, and I think that’s a lot more tangible than a “normal” internet identity.

It’s not going to die! Trust me when I say that I have a way of hanging onto my interests. I just revisited my dinosaur fetish yesterday during a trip to the museum, I still play magic cards from now and then, and between you and me, I still regularly visit my decade-old neopets account. If I’ve hung onto those interests, I sure as hell won’t drop the ball here.

Hehe, thanks Miette-chan! I look forward to next June as well, good things are going to happen. Until then, there’s still Twitter, IM, and visiting everyone’s blogs, so even in the worst case scenario, I won’t REALLY be gone.

Wait, you’ve been posting on Other Sites now?  Share some links!

I have to admit, your Q&A things are far more interesting than the other Double H posts.  Listening to a naturally-flowing conversation of sorts is better than hearing someone listing off why they’re disappointed with the figure industry this week/month.  Also maybe to could rope in random people for your conversations.

I know your room looked tiny, but isn’t there someway you can ramshackle together a photo setup, even if you have to lay on the floor?  Or is the issue concerning who owns the cameras?

Ask and you shall receive! http://tomopop.com/profile.phtml?u=Chang+Su

Hmm yeah, I’m thinking of switching the topics of Double H towards something more open-ended, perhaps a loose topic like “photography” or “figures and social life” and things like that — something that a lot of people can relate to and something that would also be natural to me. Of course, this is super-super tentative (I literally thought of it as I read your comment). Do you have any suggestions, by the way? A few pointers would be super-helpful.

Naw, there’s no way I can fit anything into my room. I doubt I can even use my old setup in my room because the bed is not tall enough and the desk is too damn full. Besides, I may own the camera, but they own the house. Their house, their rules, and given the fact that I’m now a working “responsible” adult mooching from home, it’s only natural to abide by the rules. You don’t bring dogs to a no-pet apartment, and a similar logic applies here. I’d move out earlier, but that would mean I’d have to move again when I join my roomate in June. Seems like kind of pain =/

>asking hamstercorp for pointers on having conversations
laughingelfman.rm

Now it’s starting to sound like you can’t pursue hobbies in your room?  Oh well, you Canadians are weird.

Well, I know it’s hard to fathom for you Americans, when the only refuge from polar bears is your family igloo, the rules underneath the domed ceiling tend to be a little different! =P

Congrats on your second year, I hope you won’t quit next year, cause I really like what you two did so far.
Albeit I mainly became a regular reader in this second year. The Double H collumn, was a very good idea,
it shows a bit more of your personality’s and you gave us some very good comedy moments there ^-^.

I think it’s a bit sad, but understandable that you don’t want get new figures and don’t want to take pictures of figures at your home, receiving suspicious looks, can be quite demotivating.

In the future running out of space for new figures might decrease my blog activity more than I actually want.
The last two month were just pretty dry in terms of figure releases that interested me, but in the wintermonth I should receive more than enough review material. One day I might end up selling most of my collection to get place for new stuff 😀

see ya

Haha, don’t worry Fab — just as I said to Miette-chan, I’m a persistent bastard when it comes to my hobbies. =3 I’m really happy to hear that you liked Double H, and I really appreciate all the support in the past year. Good times were had!

Eh, it is pretty demotivating, but I can’t really hold it against anyone who discourages me from unusual hobbies like this. But at the end of the day, I think I was born with the quirky gene, because I’ve never had a normal hobby since the 7th grade! Fantasy is in my nature, and I doubt anything on this green earth is going to change that.

Yeah, I never really thought about space constraints until it’s staring me in face, and it’s something that Ash and I both have to deal with. For me, I can just move into a bigger place, which would temporarily solve the problem. For Ash, who’s settled down, there’s no easy solution. I have sold figures off in the past since some figures are more forgettable than others (I’m actually thinking of getting rid of that Kotobukiya Kirino these days), but as long as I decide to keep some of my figures, it’s going to add up over time. Given my slow pace of buying, I think I’ll be safe for a while, but I wonder what I’ll do when I do hit that wall. Hmmm… switch up the figures I display now and then? Bah, I’ll worry about that when the day comes.

Ah thats good to hear then ^^
Oh no problem at all, I rarely watch youtube vids, but your stuff was interesting and always kept me listening.
A lively two person dialogue really make things more interesting and entertaining.

Well Im quite glad that my parents accept my figure collecting hobby to this extent. I guess they wouldn’t even complain when I would have something like Native’s Chie on display, albeit I would never do this as long as I live under their roof. Albeit maybe I wouldn’t even display something like this even when I would live alone XD

I put some figures away from time to time, in the nearly unlimited cellar space and exchange the figures on display.
In the winter season I put the summer related figures away 😀 I will sell a few next year, I guess.

Congrats on your second anniversary! A lot of blogs I’ve been reading have been slowing down lately, yours and mine included. But I hope you guys are able to keep at it and we’ll see Chag and Ash banter again soon.

Goddammit Tomopop. I broke my vow to never visit that site again to read your articles and then the comments spoilered part of Fate Zero for me. Grrr!

As far as shooting setups, I don’t think I’ve had a dedicated shooting space for awhile. Just this morning I had a setup with my figure on a small end table and a piece of cloth taped up between 2 chairs as a backdrop. Zai won a prize in the GoodSmile Photo contest with a figma standing on a window sill. Even Mikatan takes awesome photos in front of her computer. Elaborate setups are cool but as long as you have light coming from a window or a desk lamp or two, you can still take awesome photos.

Thanks Luth! I’ve noticed the slowdown as well, and even if I didn’t have my own circumstances to deal with, I probably still would’ve slowed down because of that punishing exchange rate. Hmm, that gives me reason to think positively about the whole thing — maybe by the time I can get back in the groove, the exchange rates would have improved by then! Ah well, one can hope~

Lol, there’s a reason I didn’t link to my Tomopop posts in the main post — they’re really not worth checking out. There seems to be not a lot of warm feelings about Tomopop amongst the people I know, and I can think of a few reasons why that would be. Out of curiosity, what bugs you about that site?

Hmmm, I’ll think about the minimalist photography approach. I kinda gave it a try in my Danbo review, but only because Danbo fits the desktop setting a lot better. Taped-up cloth is another option I’ve tried in the early day, but while it works fine, it’s not a departure from what I was doing before. Then again, I will have Aigis next February (assuming she doesn’t get delayed), so that leaves quite a few months between that and my moving out, so I’m reckon I will heed your good advice. Thanks~

Just to expand a bit I have a large number of written reviews just sitting around the problem is I don’t have the time or right mindset to photograph them to my satisfaction so…yea…Whenever the stars do align again you can expect a whole ton of reviews! Of figures that are probably so old noone cares about…ahah…

Ah, don’t worry, old is gold in my opinion.
I hope these reviews will not seduce me to hunt down rare figures again XD

OMG teasing and tantalizing us with sordid, saucy tales of your college life and family love and then refusing to dish out the dirt.  How can you leave us hanging like that? :O

I think college was the best period of my life, even though it took me eight years to graduate after flunking out twice.  I can’t say I even learned that much in the classroom, as I still can’t explain what an op amp does.  But I learned a lot about myself and my priorities in life.  It also helps that I majored in engineering so my degree actually helped me get a job.

Congrats on your site’s second birthday; sticking with a website for two years is a big accomplishment.  And congrats as well on your position as a, uhh, “reproduction equipment operator.”  That’s one of the best job titles I’ve ever heard of.

Oh Tier, what would I do without your snark? Thanks for being the awesome perverted asshole that you are, and thanks for making feel constantly inadequate with your fantastic photos. If I were to improve in the months to come, it would be thanks to your indirect influence. =)

Congrats on your second year anniversary! I came across HH on Youtube while searching for hobby reviews, and a few days later, I found myself coming back to this place every three to four days, hoping for new updates and reviews. It’s sad to see the slow downs, but there are things in life that come before hobby and blog updates… as long as you guys don’t close down the site, I’ll keep dropping by and leave my rants to annoy you XD

I haven’t paid attention to Tomopop for a while, mainly because there are too many things going on on that site, it’s hard to keep track of. But if Chag’s writing for them, I guess I should stop by periodically.

Family is a huge issue for my hobby collection, too. While I’m living by myself right now because of graduate school, this life is gonna end soon, and by the time I move back to live with my parents again, bringing along with a shitload of figures with me (some are fairly uhh… revealing for their taste), I can only pray that my parents won’t sledgehammer me everyday for the next year and half and force me to show them my monthly bank statements in order to keep a close eye on my expenses.

Chag, once you move away from your parents and have your equipments set up properly next June, you better make up for the quiescent phase of HH by giving us more awesome reviews, photos, blog updates, video reviews, HH discussions, etc. or we’ll stalk you outside your apartment or house until you do. =)

Aw man, you’re checking back here analog-style every few days? Ouch, now I REALLY feel bad about the slowdown. Have you ever tried RSS watchers like Google Reader? I find them a great way to keep track of all the various websites I follow. But yes, I’ll be counting on your to keep bothering us when we get back on track! .<

Omgz, so much pressure!! The threat of stalking!! When you put it that way, I guess I don't really have a choice in the matter, eh? =P

Hahhh, two years seems like a really short time on paper, but it seems that not many people maintain their blogs for this long. The internet generation is a fickle one, it seems, but I try to keep things fresh by trying new things. I’m sure there’ll be bizarre new experiments in the coming year as well~

Also, thanks dude! =)

Why are you making this sound like goodbye chag? WHYYY!? You’re making me melancholic! (Brace for rant).

If you start saying “it can’t be helped, I can’t do this anymore” then you start sounding like a whiny main character from a B grade anime. And nobody wants to see that!

You have a very professorial gig going on. Both the blog and the uh youtube cast? You seem to put more effort into it than the average person with Double H. You guys sound clear and on topic. You and Ash have very good chemistry going on (even if it’s pretty darn awkward sometimes, it just makes it all that better!). I think it’s better than a bunch of podcasts I’ve heard and they got paid to do it too! I think you have a great thing going on, I bet it becomes very poplar if you guys consistently stick around for a while. And there’s countless topics you can talk about, parents and figures, social stigma of figures an anime in general, how you fantasize about becoming a woman and having sex with guys, and more. Hell you can always get the audience to participate, it’s probably a lot easier if it’s a close nit group of friends talking than having people “call in”. Anything works as long as you’re passionate about it.

I think taking photos is more about figuring out how the hell you’re gonna take the shot. Stuff like weather and parents are things you must overcome for the shot. You can do all sorts of backdrops and props and concepts and places. I think you’re limiting what you can do with a figure and a camera a lot if you just want to stay in your comfort zone.

Sorry if I’m being a little harsh here but that’s how I feel. And if I’m harsh it’s only because I care. In the end I hope you do what you feel the most happy doing. I’m truly am happy for both of you in your anniversary. And I hope to see you for another year, and more after that!

Congratulations on your second anniversary! *cue the poppers and party hats*

Drat, I KNEW it was a little too melodramatic! But the thing is, I can’t help but to feel a little melodramatic when there’s still 8 months left until my moving out. I know I’ve said very little about the domestic situation, but believe me when I say it’s not a circumstances the I can easily bypass. There was a big freakout when a package arrive two weeks ago, despite the fact that the contents are meant for and paid by a friend of mine. Sure, I can ship my figures to my local friends, smuggle them in, and try all sorts of tricks, but at the end of the day, my one of my parents know about the blog and checks it regularly, so any attempt at deception is not going to end up pretty. I’d go on about this further, but basic ideas is that I really don’t have much room to maneuver. Their house, their rules. Still, things always have the chance of changing, and even if they don’t, I’ll work around corners to adapt. I agree with you: even if I can’t use the setup I want, it wouldn’t hurt to try some alternatives that I haven’t even considered yet.

Thanks for the advice on the show, Exilehero. Double H is definitely my best bet when it comes to keeping the blog active. I’m definitely going to talk to Ash about this more open-ended format that I’ve been thinking about. I haven’t really brought up the topic lately because I didn’t want to pester Ash when he’s in a rut, but at the end of the day, the sooner we get back on track, the better. Also, I should actually listen to some successful podcasts for brainstorming fuel, because I still have very little idea as to how this new idea would run. ^^;

Once again, thank you Exilehero! I feel the concern from your words, and I’ll do my best to clear up those concerns, regardless of whatever circumstance I might be in, so that when next October comes, we’ll all make poke fun at what I wrote in this post. =D

Jeez, your parents really have you on a short leash. Guess that doggy avatar is not just for show, haha! I completely forgot about your parents checking your blog. Damn these tech savvy grown up people! Internet is supposed to be just for the young! Well don’t do anything that will get you into a bad situation with your family. 

Hope it all turns out good!

Did I ever mention that my grandfather regularly uses the internet and loves his digital camcorder and camera? Yeah, my family is fuckin’ tech-savvy. On that note, I have a silly (and somewhat embarrassing story to tell you. I’ll catch you on IM later, hehe.

Congrats on 2 years!  I’ve been quite an infrequent visitor/commenter and sometimes I listen to the Double H without saying anything..  I do agree with the others that Double H is a great project and I’m sure with the right amount of care it could blow up.  I admire your determination to keep blogging and doing Double H, and it’s great to hear how it’s affected your life and friendships.  I’ve always wanted to do some sort of podcast/video blogging but I’m not confident enough in myself to pull it off, I’m even shy to skype with people xD I need to take notes and break through that barrier.

Thanks Persocom! I hear ya when it comes to not being confident enough — after reading the feedback on episode 0, my confidence was pretty much shot to pieces. If not for Ashlotte, I probably would have quit on the spot, but since he’s so good at talking on the spot and such a good sport, I decided to try to stick with it in hopes of improving, and I’m really glad I did. As someone who’s awkward on the phone, I know it’s not something that’s easy to overcome, but I think the greatest hurdle is always the first step, and I believe that it only gets easier from there.

Congrats on 2 years ^^.

It’s unfortunate you didn’t enjoy your college years. I enjoyed my time at uni – not for the parties and people and shit – but because I was given tasks that I enjoyed doing and learning about. The only negative feeling I have towards my time there is the disconnection between industry and education – but that’s a whole rant I’m going to avoid. I will admit my uni years aren’t the ‘best time in my life’, now is the best time – what I’m doing right now or the immediate future.

I’m quite lucky in that I’m given my own privacy at home. I do plan on moving out, but with the price of houses etc I’ll be saving for a few more years. Sure I could rent my freedom but I don’t see the point in paying someone else for it and merely scraping by. Hopefully you’ll enjoy your freedom when you get it in June and can begin reviewing again.

RSS is good isn’t it (when it’s not being spammed). I’ll look forward to any future posts or videos, whenever they may be ^^.

“Disconnection between industry and education”, eh? As an English major, I know exactly what you mean — except there was never an industry for English to begin with! =D =D =D

In all seriousness, I think the main reasons from my lacklustre time in school are my natural shyness and the subject matter I study. I imagine in the sciences, one spends his time learning about solution problems, but in the humanities and social sciences, it’s virtually always about learning about problems to which no solution exist. After a few semester of that, it’s hard to not be horribly disillusioned with everything ^^;

When you put it that way, renting does seem a bit silly, but as someone who’s never lived away from home, I think it’s a long-overdue experience that would serve me well. Sure, the hobby is a part of it, but learning to be self-sufficient and having a change of pace is the main reason I want to pack up and leave so much. And besides, I’ll have a roommate, so hopefully the costs won’t be as steep as it otherwise would be!

Thanks BioToxic, we’ll see you around! =)

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