Volatile-Salad

Today I found out who the 13th Doctor on Doctor Who will be. (It's someone called Jodie Whittaker, if any of you wanted to know.) And then it occurred to me how much I don't care. Two years ago, I would've been excited by the prospect of a new Doctor. I'd have had something to say about it being a woman this time, but I'm not sure what I would've said.

But year after year since 2005, I've had enough of Doctor Who. A friend showed me the first episode of the latest series since the reboot, and all I could think after watching it was it's time to stop. Maybe the BBC should take it off the air for a few decades again. They won't, but if they did I'd probably at least give the pilot episode a chance.

And when I realized how much I don't care about Doctor Who anymore, I felt strangely liberated. It's actually nice to have one less thing to care about. I want less things to care about, and have slowly stopped caring about Tumblr, disagreements between internet personalities, and the problems of strangers. I know someone who talks a lot about how we should remember to be nice to minorities and disabled people, and while it's true that we should be nice to people, I've found it extremely exhausting to care about what we shouldn't say and do because some might think it's offensive. And if anyone isn't cool with that, I'll retort, "I don't care."

I've got my own things to care about now. I have an array of hobbies (so many that it becomes stressful at times. I've dug myself into a hole with my hobbies), tests to pass, places to go and friends and family whom I need to spend time with. Not caring about Doctor Who anymore is what I need.

Ever since I was 14 I've kept a list on my phone of anime I need to watch. But when I get my new phone next week, that list will be deleted forever, because I want to be feel free. I'll watch what anime I want, when I want. Screw the list. I don't care about it anymore.

I was both happy and sad to leave Japan over a month ago. I was happy because I was homesick, but sad because I knew that I'm going to miss Japan. And I do miss it. When I was there I wanted to keep studying Japanese, so that I'd always have the option of working in Japan again. But since I've been home, I've not read a single page of Japanese for Busy People or looked over any of my Japanese notes.

All things considered, I don't want to work in Japan again. This is because of the industry I want to work in: animation. I'd much rather be an animator in the UK or the USA rather than Japan. Sure if I wanted to I could study Japanese until I'm fluent, get a work visa after graduating from university, and move to Japan to become a salaryman. (Or go there as an English teacher.) But after all those months in Japan, that life just doesn't interest me.

However, I'd love to come to Japan again as a tourist. There's still so much of the country I've not explored yet. I'd love a night out in the grimy depths of Tokyo, take a scenic train ride through the snowy countryside of Hokkaido, or go swimming off a small Okinawan Island. Yet, I don't know when I'll be able to go back to Japan. And if I went there as a tourist, I'd qualify for a JR Pass and ride the Shinkansen all day long if I wanted.

There are Japanese evening lessons I'd like to go to in the university I'll be attending in September, because I want to keep learning Japanese for fun. I've just not been studying it lately because I'm busy studying for my driving theory test instead. I quite fancy having a driving license.

I also quite fancy going to Australia sometime. I met a lot of Australians in Japan. I said to one of them, "I've not met an unlikable Australian."

"Come to Australia and you'll meet plenty," he said. Maybe I should take him up on that offer.

As the title suggests, I'm finally back home after spending 7 months and 23 days in Japan, and 2 weeks in the USA. (That's 249 days in total.) That's an awfully long time to be away. Despite traveling solo, I hardly ever felt alone, because I would usually make friends in the towns and cities where I'd live and work. I'd only be on my own again when I'd leave, before working somewhere else. I'm pretty proud of myself for being able to pull the whole thing off. I even stayed longer than I intended to!

A lot of people would ask me why I came to Japan, and I still don't know how to answer that. I came there for fun, I guess. It's good for oneself to experience living and working in another country, I think. Time will tell whether it's really broadened my mind, or what effect it'll actually have on me. I thought I'd be able to get a lot of drawing or animating done when I was away. But it turns out I'm in the right mind to be creative when I'm at home.

Every now and then I'll think of an anime or manga I read or watched a years ago, and end up reading a chapter or two or watching an episode. It's fun to rekindle something I once loved and forgot. I find myself doing the same for episodes of The Simpsons from the 1990s before the show's great decline.

Just now, I've been reading some of the Area 88 manga, trying to find this one chapter about a character's backstory. I couldn't find it, but instead ended up looking through some of the manga's amazing artwork. It really is awesome! I'd have some of it printed onto canvas and hang it up in my room if it could be done for free.

















Area 88 reminds me of Israel, and the fun carefree times I had there as a kid before eventually starting to not like the place. I'd mistake the F-15E Strike Eagles for F-14 Tomcats. (Silly me, the only country in the Middle East to use the F-14 is Iran.) And I was lucky enough to see a few A-4 Skyhawks outside Beer Sheva shortly before their retirement. That was a proper Area 88 moment!