Backlit Pixels

Hey there, dear reader. How are you holding up? How has your September been?

More and more, I feel like that’s the best question to ask: how are you holding up feels like the tone for the rest of this year. In many ways, I often want to ask, “How are you surviving?” but that feels strangely dire. So instead I’ll ask, “How are you holding up? How are you thriving, even right now?”

I intended to write this before Summer gave it’s last gasp, but today, September 22 – and suitably, on the Autumn Equinox- it’s a rainy day: the skies are grey, the rain is pounding on the tin roof over the patio, I’ve got a cup of tea, and it’s cold enough for me to double up on fleece blankets.

Essentially, it’s my kind of day.

Still, it’s never too late to talk about how thing have been. So… let’s see how the final month of Summer went for me.

Let’s start at the beginning: just over a month ago -on August 11- I relocated from Japan to the United States, which was a feat that felt larger than life, especially since it was made at the peak of an on-going wave of COVID-19 cases. I relocated back to Texas temporarily for personal reasons, and although I came during

It’s not been the easiest transition, if I’m being honest. I came back with a lot on my shoulders, both personal and professional. Additionally, I came back to an unsteady economy with no job, no insurance, and very few safety nets.

Yet somehow, a month later, I’m feeling much more steady: rather, I think I might be feeling a little less hopeless. That’s in large part to the resume building I did with a local profesional. He took the past decade of academia, writing, and ALT-ing and shaped it into a pretty detailed one-page resume which makes me shine. Now I have an actual resume to put out there instead of… the not so great three page document I was working with.

While I don’t have full-time work, I do have a lot of good news in terms of freelancing, which fits the whole “freelancing Blerd” aspect of my blog quite well.

First up: I’m happy to announce that I’m part of two websites: But Why Tho? and Fandom Post. I’ll be doing manga, anime, and light novel reviews, though you might also see some opinion pieces on BWT. I’m really excited about the work I’ll be doing there: it’s exciting and it’ll hopefully help share my passion with others. Addition, I plan to regularly link to all my stuff in some sort of fortnightly round-up post, which might potentially become a substack newsletter… at some point.

Don’t hold me to that.

Originally, I thought I’d hold off on talking about either site until my work went live, but… I think it’s okay to celebrate victories like this. Plus, But Why Tho? and Fandom Post are very different from my work at Anime Feminist.

Most of my feature writing will still be done on AniFem, if only because that’s where I want my deeper, more critical and feminist writing to go. I’m really quite attached to AniFem: it’s the first major publication geared towards anime and manga that I’ve been a part of, and like… it just feels like home in a deeply positive way. Ic an’t imagine not having the main core of my writing there.

Since we’re talking about writing: I’m now an official reviewer for Lilyka, a digital doujinshi company specializing in Yuri doujinshi, which like… yes please. You may or may not remember, but I mentioned I was in talks to review Yuri doujinshi with Lilyka earlier this month.

Well, I wrapped up things last week and am now working on my review of Lily Confit, a sweet looking one-shot that looked like a great weekend read.

You can expect my first Lilyka review to come this week, probably during the weekend, and… potentially expect to see a column on Lilyka’s website featuring my reviews and writing sometime in the future, should things develop and go that way. (Updates to come!)

Finally: I bought a new diary planner! Actually, I bought a new book for an old Hobonichi A5-Cousin sized cover which I forgot I brought with me to the states. After some research right before bed last night, I decided to order a Yellow, A5 Size Stalogy notebook with enough pages for 365 days of planning. I’ll start it up on October 1, which is when I’d usually start my new calendars anyways.

I might still buy a BujoMarks cover, but… that’ll be a next month thing if I still really, really want one. Right now, I’d like to save a bit of money and continue using a nice cover for keeping track of things.

I think that’s about it: even if it’s not, I don’t want to stretch the page too much. I’ll give you a quick TL;DR in case you want a recap, including some things I didn’t mention above:

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1. Got a snazzy, professional resume!
2. Joined But Why Tho? And Fandom Post!
3. I might be making a fortnightly newsletter for all of my articles, but don’t hold me to that.
4. Got cleared to start reviewing for Lilyka, a yuri doujinshi company.
5. My first Lilyka review will go up (most likely) this weekend.
6. Got a new Stalogy notebook for my old Hobonichi A5-size cover.
7. I’m finally working on my Dramacon article, which… might go up in October on AniFem, or maybe, this month, though I doubt it.
8. I’ve finally chosen the first game I’ll be reviewing/talking about on my Medium account, and I think it’ll be Animal Crossing: New Horizons and Raging Loop.
9. I’ve been working on recording some podcast episodes about Angelic Layer.
10. I’ve started doing transcription for a new podcast: Sparkleside Chats with Magical Girl Ayu! I’ll also be featured on an episode this year.
11. Subsequently, I’ve been working on outlining not one, but two (!!!) Angelic Layer articles for October that’ll go up on AniFem.

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Now… it’s nearly lunchtime which means it’s time to contemplate what I’m going to enjoy. I think it’ll probably be a lemon-basil pasta salad with extra spinach, i.e. yesterday’s lunch. Maybe I’ll add a croissant onto that, since I’m feeling a lil’ fancy. Afterwards? Well…I’m going to enjoy the rain.

Then get back to work.

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