Today is a very humid day: humid enough that I can feel it inside, tucked up under my skin, tangled in my hair. It’s the kind of humid you can almost taste: thick, balmy, salty. It’s the kind of weather.
In a way, it’s deeply uncomfortable because I’m lightly sweaty while I work. In another way, it’s nostalgic: this is how I felt at my work desk. In fact… I wonder if the spider lilies have started to bloom yet: that’s always secretly one of the most humid times in Japanese summer. It’s the last bellows of the season before a typhoon blows away the summer sun.
I’ve been between jobs for about a month and… some change. I can soundly say that I don’t like being unemployed, in terms of a day job: I don’t like not doing good work. It helps that I’ve still got things to do for Anime Feminist: with the addition of my reviews, I’ve still got things that are helping me hon my skills and fill my time as I get my body and mind adjusted to being in different place in such a different time.
I’m the kind of person who likes to have their hands moving most of the time: while I can sit still, I also like to do things so I feel like I’ve earned that sit down me time.
But -by and large- not working is still just as weird as the day that I lost my insurance. Still just as weird as the day that my residence card got punched with the “hole of no return” marking me as a non-resident. It’s this odd confluence of events that happened all at once in the middle of global upheaval and a pandemic.
It’s all just weird: it most likely will feel weird for a while. But that’s okay: sometimes life is strange and we just have to continue to find out way through. Onward and upward, even in strange, liminal times.
One thing that has helped me a lot has been sticking to goals. Looking back at my month ahead post for this month, I’ve a done quite bit thus far.
Translation and localization are at a bit of a standstill, though I’m hoping I’ll have some news to tell you concerning the manga I mentioned. I’m just putting it out of mind for now until I can say anything more concrete.
The same goes for the light novel editing positing I applied for: I’m still waiting on the next steps, so it’s out of sight, out of mind until I get to that point. Hopefully, that point will come this month.
Today, I plan to do more editing: I’m almost to the end of the first big round of editing, and I think I might get it done today. Then it’ll be a big break while everyone gets their edits and rewrites done.. It’s a lot of pressure, but if it means getting my contributors up and wrapped up by month’s end, it’s absolutely work it.
I’m also going to be working on one of two of my articles for this month: one was actually planned, and the other… came about by happenstance. (That would be my Dramacon article.)
The planned one is most likely going to be my Paradise Residence idea from my month ahead plans, in large part because it gives me a good excuse to re-read Paradise Residence digitally, especially since my physicals are somewhere on this great blue marble, travelling via the sea.
It’ll be a nice re-read: plus, it’ll let me review the volumes for this blog. What a fun first manga review that’ll be!
Additionally, I’m planning on pitching and putting my name out to a few more writing websites. I really miss writing: I miss it so, so much. Nearly as much as I miss being at Siliconera, if I’m being honest. Translating video game news really made me feel like professional, especially when my name -and my articles- appeared in the top results for searches.
But I’m trying to look towards what I can do: I can’t be at Siliconera right now, but I can find niches and sites and places that I can slot into. At the very least ,even if they’re not for me, I can just try: I can get my name out there, which still feels like a win/win for me.
In a shocking twist, I’m going to be pitching… anime. Maybe manga, but mostly anime. I might look to this season, I might see what I like tht has an anniversary, but I’ll -by and large- be pitching articles focused on anime. Wild, I know? A professional otaku pitching anime.
(It’s not wild: it’s to be expected. After all, I do work for a website called Anime Feminist.)
Overall, it’s a low-key day for me: I’m just gonna get down to it, get my editing and outlining and reading done, and then… just continue to go with the flow.
As always: see you next post!
Backlit Pixels 