In Which She Finds Herself Full of Much Water...

I don’t even know if I can say that I’m good or bad with goodbyes. It seems that in my life I’ve had many, but I also have quite a subjective view on it. I like to believe that I’ve had just the right amount: not too many that I was left completely adrift, and not too few that I didn’t try and appreciate the time that I was given.

And I do; appreciate the time I have been given, that is. I’ve been so blessed to have crossed paths with so many wonderful people in my life and have been even more blessed to have been able to share even a part of our journeys together.

But it’s been different up until now: I’ve always been the one leaving, the one striking out from home on some new obscure fork leading me away (for a time) from those I built a home with and love. I felt only my own sense of bittersweet loss as I continued forward, or as we all left for different paths, using my new location or new daily routine to help me channel my emotions.

Today I’m at a loss for how to proceed. Yesterday I had to say goodbye to my Hokkaido Bestie as she returns home to Canada. As we adamantly refused to say “goodbye” and continued to promise each other about all of the amazing adventures we’re going to have in the future and hugged each other desperately, I also thought about the other friends gathered to wish her well. For once it wasn’t just my sadness (which I assure you is still quite strong) but everyone’s I was beginning to understand. Courtney is such a loving person that people can’t help loving her, and it was oddly comforting to know that all of us loved her and had our lives changed by her friendship. She means something different to each of us, but she is important to all of us.

I think this parting is particularly hard for me because I’m the one staying behind, and now I have to figure out how to re-order my life without her. Who am I supposed to talk to about all of the silly inconsequential things my students do that I find endearing but don’t seem like anything when they’re out of context? Who am I going to just get in a car with to drive two hours to hike a volcano? Who’s going to invite me for kaiten zushi and onsen on a weekday night because we’re both so done with frustrating Japanese work politics and want someone to complain with?

Logically I know that we’re still going to be friends, and technology will definitely help us stay in contact, and I do have other friends here… but it’s just not the same. And I know and appreciate, from my already seemingly vast experience with goodbyes, that this is just the turning of a page in the multi-volume story of our lives, and that things have to and will always change… but I’m still so sad.

I’m grateful for the time that I’ve been given. I really am so very grateful. It’s as if the more sadness I feel about her having to leave, the more happiness and love I feel remembering what a great friend she is and all of the adventures we were able to have. And hope: hope that this isn’t the end to our journey together, just a temporary splitting of paths. Like my lovely friendships back in the US that have shifted to long-distance temporarily, I’m confident we’ll be able to come out of this stronger and climb many more mountains together in the future.

Thailand:

 Kampo Taikai:

 Asahi-dake:

 Aka-dake

 Wine Festival:

Meakan:

 Noboribetsu:

 Houheikyo Onsen:

See you later <3

A JET Reader (Year 2, Spring)

Spring: March 1st-May 31st
(incorporating both of my jaunts to the US)
(Apparently I went on a Faerie binge with a dash of Sci-Fi to even it out...)

READ:
Shadow of Night
Chronicles of Elantra: Cast in Ruin
The Book of Life
Hyperbole and a Half
Chronicles of Elantra: Cast in Peril
Insurgent
________________(Autumn)___________________
Chronicles of Elantra: Cast in Sorrow
Albrecht Durer: A Biography
Allegiant
Clockwork Angel
Death Comes to Pemberley
The Alloy of Law
Clockwork Prince
Clockwork Princess
The Blood of Olympus
Poison Princess
__________________(Winter)__________________
Endless Knight
Chronicles of Elantra: Cast in Flame
Dead of Winter
Ready Player One
Son of the Shadows
Sabriel
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
Tithe
Beauty
The Restaurant at the End of the Universe
The Hunter's Moon
Rose Daughter
The Summer King
Valiant
Ironside

READING:
Bellman & Black
Red Rising

STALLED:
Child of the Prophesy
Poison Study
The Third Kingdom


PLANNING TO READ:
Life, the Universe and Everything
Lirael
Abhorsen
Shadow and Bone
Grimspace

(plus a lot of books I want to re-read ><;;; )


Endless Knight (The Arcana Chronicles #2) Rec'd and loaned by Courtney
Well. That was some of the fastest reading I've done in a while. This series is really good about keeping tensions high and creating mini-cliff hangers that keep you tearing forward. Character revelations and changes caused unthinkable allegiance shifts, and now I don't know what to think. I really appreciated the struggle that Evie is having trying to control the murderous impulse of her powers, and that despite his clear unease in the situation Jackson is still an anchoring force to keep her from going "Red Witch" on everyone. But now that Death, the Endless Knight himself, is in the picture I'm really anxious over what will happen next... especially with Jackson captured and about to be tortured... and with the mystery of how Evie escaped Death to try and get to Jackson....

Cast in Flame (Chronicles of Elantra #10)
Well, now both Katie and I are caught up for the first time and have to wait as they come out (this is going to be really hard ><; ). Thank goodness we got the crazy idea to compile a document of our notes and thoughts on the series (which is now over 50 pages long...).
These books are never what I expect them to be haha. After everything that happened in the West March, I was anticipating a huge confrontation between Nightshade and Kaylin (with Teela and/or Annarion and/or Severn) but instead we got an apartment hunt. But of course that would never be a normal experience for her, and eventually events lead to an all out battle in the streets with all the major players (The Hawklord, Hawks, Swords, the Emperor, the Arkon, the Consort, the High Lord, Evolved!Squawky, everyone except Nightshade). Now, having met the Emperor (and not immediately being incinerated on the spot) and lost communication with Nightshade (who would've thought that'd be cause for alarm) the next book can't come soon enough!

Dead of Winter (The Arcana Chronicles #3) Rec'd and loaned by Courtney
Good grief. And now another series I desperately want more information in and yet must wait on the whims of publishers.
I was surprised by the relative ease at which Jackson was recovered in the beginning, and so was less surprised when The Lovers card wasn't actually defeated. And while it was the usual macho contest eliminating obstacles on the way to the actual lair, the rapport between Evie, Jackson, and Aric didn't feel like out-of-character bravado. While sincere in their desires to raise the other's hackles, they were also sincere in their desires to both respect Evie's wishes and win her over. I'm not a fan of love triangles, but these characters have gotten to me and I don't want any of them to suffer. And of course the ending had to be such a dire cliff hanger ><; I don't want to believe the implied deaths are true... (And I think Jackson must either be the Inactivated card or Minor Arcana...HMMMM......)

Ready Player One (Recommended by Geoff)
What an exciting finish! This is definitely a fun book to read if you're into 80's pop-culture (movies, music, video games, even cereal commercials). It's based in a future of our world where everyone practically lives there life in the OASIS: a virtual reality universe with everything from schools to battle arenas to perfect renderings of fictional worlds ready to explore.
The story was broken up into three "levels", each dedicated to finding one of the three Keys and the three corresponding Gates that would lead the winner to the ultimate prize left as an Easter Egg by the creator before he died. The beginning quarter of the book was a bit tedious, as the main character would frequently break from the current action to dump a history lesson about the creator or some other aspect of a particular game console or of the atmosphere in the Oasis. Once he obtained the first key (I'm sure the fact that the main character passes the first level is as much of a spoiler as someone saying Harry is a wizard...) the story picked up, and after I was halfway I couldn't put it down. I loved all of the references, it was like reading a lot of inside jokes and was just all around really fun. I'm not often a huge sci-fi or virtual reality fan, but I really enjoyed this!

Son of Shadows (Sevenwaters #2)
*cue distressed/resolved Bilbo voice* "I've put this off for far too long..."
Considering that I read the proceeding book for the first time the last time I was in Japan (Shiga, summer of '11) it took me a long time to work up my courage for this book. Mixed feelings of loving Daughter of the Forest so much and not wanting to damage it's "pedestal", but also knowing how emotionally wrecked I am when I read Daughter of the Forest and believing in the author to come back just as strong (if not stronger) in the following books. But I couldn't stay away.
*cue distressed sobbing* I wasn't ready.
While I quickly fell in love with Liaden, the main character of this part of the story, and was given loving moments with old friends, the wheel must turn and I was more than distraught at having to say goodbye. Impossible choice after impossible choice also lent weight to my sense of despair. But through it all, like her mother before her, Liaden's indomitable spirit helped shelter my fragile hope that all would be well. I invested my heart into this story, though I'm still not certain whether it was a conscious choice or the inevitability of wandering Sevenwaters again.

Sabriel (The Old Kingdom/Abhorsen #1)
This was a guilty diversion while gathering my courage to begin the next book in the Sevenwaters saga, but also a long awaited welcome home. Having only been my second read-through I had to discover nearly everything all over again (but I was just as pleased as the first time I visited the Old Kingdom). The writing and characters in these books are so refreshing, and I was pleased to be able to pick up subtle nuances relating to things later revealed in the plot. It was just really nice to be able to read all of the little interactions between Sabriel and Touchstone, and also to appreciate the danger of walking in Death.

The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (Hitchhiker's series #1)
Original rec by Kelsey...over ten years ago... Oh am I ever eating my words from three years ago: "My cousin is so dissapointed in me that 'I don't like science fiction' (especially since I cringe at the idea of reading something like 'The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy' that is just disjointed plots and rabbit trails in space)"
While I do feel quite bad not reading this earlier, I'm glad I read it now that I can appreciate the humor in it. The randomness of everything (or I should say, the improbability of everything) was well balanced with the matter-of-fact tone of the narrator. The clever manner of expression I think was the most entertaining, with odd simile and dialogue that remained unfazed through out every exasperating circumstance. It was a fun, diverting read, and I hope the rest continue this style of prose!

Tithe
I haven't picked up these books since I first read them in high school, but after my Cassandra Clare phase I decided I needed to go back to my faerie source material and re-read Holly Black. It's just as bleak as I remember--which is wonderful because she writes true to the cruel nature of the Fae. Of course to be honest I was mostly just delighted to read about Kaye and Roiben, and pleasantly surprised that they had more interactions together than I had remembered. Now to wait for Valiant to come in from Amzon.JP (since my copy was lost in college...).

Beauty
After sleeping in for a change and deciding to play hooky from society, I read this all in one day. Granted, it was broken between the pre-lunch and then post-dinner phases of the day and it was just midnight at the last few pages, but that's the first that's happened in a while and it was /really/ nice. I kept mixing up the details of this and Rose Daughter in my head, and I read them in the opposite order last time, but this was the one written first. Robin McKinley's fairy tale style of writing is so natural and soothing. I know some of the criticism for this story is that the pacing was slow and the characters and plot obvious. Well, of course it seems obvious since the story of Beauty and the Beast is a "tale as old as time" (heh heh). I like this iteration of the story because its unhurried, ethereal nature only enhances the dreamlike quality of truly being swept away by a story.

The Restaurant at the End of the Universe (Hitchhiker's #2)
I must say I enjoyed the first half of this book better than the second half, but it was filled many more literary and linguistic tangents than the first one, so that was quite entertaining! (I was mostly just frustrated with the people Ford and Arthur become stranded with and wished the perspective would have swung back to Zaphod more often.)

The Hunter's Moon (Chronicle of the Faerie #1)
(I seem to be committing many acts of impulsive re-reading this season...)
Continuing on in my trend of Faerie stories, I would be amiss not to revisit one that became a personal classic to me (thanks to Katie~). Two cousins adventuring across Ireland in search of the Good Folk and happening across more than they bargained for, but coming into their own and making true friends along the way. For some reason I always want to think the king's second's motives are traitorous, but everything turns out right in the end. I also appreciate that the love/romance aspect of the story isn't used to aggravate more anxiety, but is easy and imperfect yet full of hope for the future.

Rose Daughter
I won't compare this to Beauty even though it is another retelling of the same story and by the same author. Both are dear to me for different reasons.
I adore the sisters in Rose Daughter with their vibrant personalities and unapologetic natures (named Lionheart and Jeweltongue for their respective boldness and cleverness). But I also love that Beauty owns to the fact she's beautiful and still has her own strength and wisdom. I love that she was always running off to the gardens when she was small and that she feeds her energy into saving the dying  roses in the Beast's glasshouse even though she's openly sad. I love how matter-of-fact she and the Beast are about how they want to start their life together not in all of the grandeur of his palace, but with their roses.

The Summer King (Chronicles of the Faerie #2)
This being the loose sequel to "The Hunter's Moon" (see above), I was surprised how different the story felt. While Hunter's Moon was light and airy as the main heroine is chasing the Fairy Court across Ireland and slowly yet surely reveals the darker side of the Perilous Realm, this installment started on a much darker note and continued to explore and fray that thread. Grief, loss, un-belonging, and questions of morality in situations where the distinction between good and evil is as clear as mud made me resonate with this book more so than the simple pleasure its predecessor has always given me (okay, and having bird people never hurts~). I found it very refreshing that even though this was a quest set by and benefiting the Good Folk, they played quite a small role in the actual telling.

Valiant
Maybe it's because I've read two Beauty and the Beast adaptations recently, but I can't help loving this book even more for its subtlety. From Val becoming the Prince Valiant using her sword to defend monsters, to becoming a retched and terrible monster herself who still has the power to use True Love's Kiss to wake the beast. I now recall that this was also the final resounding nail on the coffin burying any (albeit already infinitesimal) inclination to try drugs, and I appreciate it's frankness for that. I waffle between this and Tithe being my favorite in the "trilogy", but currently this one is resolutely on top.

Ironside
Having just finished Valiant, I wish there were more interactions with Val and Ravus in this book, but alas, thus is the way of things. Despite the lack of even Kaye and Roiben interaction, I appreciated Kaye being able to come into herself more and accept that she doesn't have to ignore her human half now that she knows what she is. The situation now seems a bit more precarious than it did after Tithe, however, and I'm not quite sure how I feel about it. But I'm still glad for any story about those characters. This series is always going to be my baseline for faerie stories and so far very few have actually measured up.