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froggy

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Blog Entries posted by froggy

  1. froggy
    This morning I checked my AP score results. I had signed up for two classes, AP art where I had drawn a comic series throughout the year, building a portfolio to submit. And AP Japanese, where my knowledge from the past 4 years of my studying would be put to the test.
    How scoring works, is its 1 - 5, 3 is passing and anything under means you don't get the college credit. Japanese I got a 2 (｡•́︿•̀｡). And for Art I got a 4 (o_O) !
    I was expecting to fail my art, since I wasn't sure how anime esque manga inspired comic would be received by highly technical artists who are scoring my work. If you would like to see my comic, I'll be posting it on my art channel called Froggy's Art or something like that. I forget. This is a link to the thread here.
    I was feeling confident with my writing and reading, but I think I messed up on the speaking portion, I fumbled that for sure. I didn't really know what to say in regards to Japanese sports since I'm not a fan. But oh well. I was planning to take the JPLT, but I think I might postpone it. I've been studying less since I've just been pursuing other things than school. But seeing these scores really makes me reflect, with my dad I've been having a lot of conversations about what career I'm going to pursue. I'm already taking a gap year, so I can just figure something out.
    But really, I just want to make art, hang out with friends, and watch anime. I enjoy reading manga in Japanese and anime without the subtitles, and when I go to Japan again then I'll have skills to navigate. But in regards, to working in Japan or trying to fit in there, I don't think its for me.
    In middle school, I used to idealize Japan a lot. As any normal child, I've done my fair share of daydreaming. But when it comes to reality, I want to develop my art skills. Practice Japanese as a hobby, and enjoy other aspects of my life like skateboarding and making memories with people that are important to me. Pretending to be something I'm not is something I'm going to let go of. Just to reference, the area I live has a high korean population. I'm asian, but south asian. Ever since I was kid, I've had a hard time fitting in or having a community because I'm mixed and don't properly relate to my white or asian side. At my school, the korean kids always sticked together because of discrimination, but that meant I couldn't fit in with the white kids or the asians at all. I felt really left out, after giving up on trying to fit in, I just did everything in my power to be as weird as possible because I just wanted attention. (-_-;)・・・
    I thought I could make my whole personality be being weird, but that also wasn't me. There are very normal things about me, liking anime is important to me like a lot of different things. I'm glad my interest has pushed me to work hard in Japanese class, and anime and manga for inspiring me to make art.
    In my Japanese and art classes, I've made great friends and memories. It was the best part of my highschool life, which is why I wanted to take the AP, just to see how what I learned would measure up. But the actual value of those classes was teaching me that identity is made up of tons of things, who you are changes, but the things you love don't fade away that easily. Doing what you love to is the best way to live(〃￣ω￣〃ゞ
    That's all!
  2. froggy
    For the past two weeks I've been hanging out with a Japanese student. She's from Hyogo prefecture, so I got to learn some Kansai dialect slang. A few are honmani which is an adjective meaning very. So, honmani acchi means very hot. Acchi is short for atsui meaning hot. There's also egui which has the same meaning as yabai. They both are said in response to something very bad or good. The boys also kept trying to get me to say erotic phrases, but the only one I repeated was maji de kusa. So basically, you're shit! It's crazy how many times I've said kusa in the past few weeks.
    My friends and I sent off the six japanese students earlier today, there were a lot of tears because of how close we had become. Everyday after school we were going to clubs, starbucks, playing soccer, going to the movies, concerts and a lot more. All of the 4 boys on the trip are in their school's soccer club, so playing soccer was super fun. We called it bluelock practice. As a group we went to the city a bunch, and just with my student and family as well.
    Some of my favorite memories were being squished into my friend's car. Going home from the gym, we may have fit more than legally allowed, but it was a bunch of fun. The other day we went to see Princess Monoke remastered in theaters, and they were so surprised that it was in Japanese. We took a photo in a photo booth, which is similar to the Japanese Purikara. Except purikara is much more kawaii.
    One of the girls on the trip, the best friend of the student I hosted, is a mind gyal. So her attitude is gyal, but looks not much. When I wore my makeup, my student said it looked like heisei gyaru. Which is the older style in general terms. 
    To put it concisely, I had a ton of fun, practiced my japanese speaking for my AP exam, and made new friends. I'm really grateful for my dad, even though we don't have a ton of money at the moment, he still set aside a budget so that I could have fun with my host student. In his words, he still wanted me to experience Japan in some way. My high school and their high school have an exchange program. Last summer, I was supposed to go to Japan and attend their school, but I got really sick. Even though I discharged before the departure, I wasn't recommended to travel. Since then, I've worked so hard to stay healthy. I've had all A's in every single quarter this year. I wake up at five to go to the gym and do cardio after school. And work with my care team so that I can be stable. I'm so glad that I was able to enjoy this experience without breaking down. Now, my confidence is really high, better than ever. And I think I'll be okay.
    If it wasn't for my family or friends, I wouldn't be able to do all these fun things. So I'm really happy. Thanks for reading:)
  3. froggy

    Future Plans

    By froggy,


    General
    I'm a senior in high school, which means post-graduation planning. It feels ambitious to say I want to go to college in Japan, but that's all I'm interested in doing. In particular, Tokyo Polytechnic College in Nakano, Tokyo. I want to attend the manga course for four years, and to do that I need to pass the N2 exam. Which consists of grammar, reading, and writing. I'm already studying for the AP exam which is more difficult because of its speaking portion where you have to hold a conversation and do a speech. In terms of the college's requirements, I'm not worried at all. It's more of moving to another country and living alone that will be a challenge for me because of my medical issues. 
    That's why I want to take a gap year, take a few colleges at the community college, get my drivers license, and earn money. Just get used to managing my medications and health as an adult for a while. Currently I'm in AP art, where you have to build a portfolio. Since I did over 50 original works of manga style art and proved to my teacher that I can do it, I'm making my portfolio a comic. My art teacher has a no anime rule, to prevent beginners from submitting fanart for their classwork. But I was able to be an exception to that. 
    So nowadays, I draw comics, practice Japanese, and work on my overall health. That way I can become independent. When I was in middle school and early high school, I was suffering from my issues a lot and dreamt of being a mangaka in Japan as an escape. It was easier to avoid my problems then, but ignoring my weaknesses isn't going to get me where I want to go in life. That's all I have to say for now. Thank you for reading!
  4. froggy

    Unexpectedly...

    By froggy,


    General
    Its been around three months since I updated this blog. And unfortunately I didn't get to go on the school trip to Japan last summer. I unexpectedly got sick a few weeks prior and was in the hospital recovering by the time the airplane left the ground. It really bummed me out since I saved a bunch of money and was super excited and all. I ended up having to quit my job too. Things were bad for a while which is why I didn't feel like touching the topic.
    My friends went and had a nice time from what I heard. Moving forward, I decided that overworking myself to afford the trip made it so that I couldn't even go at all. Now that I've recovered I don't want to rush into anything. While preparing for life after highschool, I'm planning on working and studying for the JPLT N2 exam, so that I can increase my prospects a bit before deciding what to do next.
    After all the ups and downs school has put me through, I'm still glad I tried and worked hard. I don't regret it, however I won't be pushing myself anymore. Might as well enjoy my last year while I'm at it. As for this blog related to the trip to Japan. Hopefully I can keep it updated with how I work on my Japanese proficiency and plans for going to school abroad there.

  5. froggy

    how it started

    By froggy,


    General
    Every since taking Japanese 1, I've pestered my sensei about taking the class to Japan, and this year he finally relented! After 2 years of scheming, I'm super excited to hang out with my friends there! The itinerary is going to take me all over Japan, though I won't say where for obvious reasons, so I get to go outside of Tokyo this time around. Sadly, we won't be going anywhere near Nagoya, so I asked my sensei if I could stay in Japan longer that way I can travel there to see my crush again! I'm kinda nervous about taking the densha and flying home by myself, but I'm sure I can figure it out. Last summer, I took the Densha everyday to my manga school with my mom, and it wasn't too bad. Although, if I have to go anywhere near Shinjuku station by myself around 8:00am in the morning, I would just give up because that station is ginormous and has so many floors, escalators, and platforms. Also, at 8am is the rush hour for work, and is filled to the brim with white collars. That's when  you see the station workers take huge plastic panels to push the people in the train doors so they can close. My mom actually saw that happen once, it was crazy. My mom actually saw some crazy things. One time she was eating at a small Indian restaurant in Nakano, Tokyo and two men covered to head to toe in tattoos and piercings came in and ate at the table next to her. I wasn't there to see it, but my mom said they were very intimidating. She thought they were Yakuza but I have no idea. I mean it would've been normal to see people like that in Harajuku which is full of fashionistas, but this was a hole-in-the-wall in Nakano. My mom explored a lot more of Tokyo since I was in my classes for most of the day, so I'm looking forward to see more this time around. Anyways, I'm super grateful for my part-time job that way I can pay for all of this, although my dad is going to help pay for extra expenses I'm covering most of the cost. That's all really. 
  6. froggy

    Almost There!

    By froggy,


    General
    The plans have been set! I'm going to spend two weeks going around Tokyo, Hiroshima, Chiba, and Osaka with my class. I will doing a homestay with four different families as well! I'm super excited! All of the hours I've spent working have paid off, and now my dad only has to chip in 300$ out of the near 4000$ I've saved for this trip! 
    I am a tad bit worried however because the third week I'll be going to Nagoya and staying with my best friend, but I've had trouble getting in contact with her mom. It is confirmed that I'll be staying with them, but I still have to work out the details before I pay my travel agent...
    The last thing is that I've gotten in contact with my manga sensei! Nao Yazawa, the artist of Wedding Peach! I spent two weeks studying under her last time I was in Japan! And before I leave Tokyo on my last day, I've scheduled a lesson with her! Which I'm super excited about because she's an absolute genius in her craft. I've been able to see and touch the physical pages from Wedding Peach and it's insane how talented she is! 

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