Hello!

Today this blog turns 9 years. And it is extra auspicious because there are a lot of 9s. It will probably live a long life.

On every blog anniversary day when i remembered (somet years forget, but this year i put a reminder down in calendar), i did a blog post and feel thankful for how long i have managed to keep this blog. I often ponder about the shelf life of a blog. It largely depends on how much effort and passion you want to put in to maintain it, just like every other aspects of life. And sometimes i wonder if next year, i would be celebrating the demise graduation of this blog instead. After all 9 years is a quite a long time.

Of course blogging has changed a lot over these 9 years. I still love and enjoy doing it a great deal, but maybe the way i love and enjoy doing it has also changed. I blog a lot more about what i feel like, and i care a lot less about what people say. And maybe i have also become little more private than other bloggers who blog about everything in their lives. So maybe it has also gone less funny, less juicy and thus less interesting. All i blog about is what i ate in Japan and what i love about it. I guess for people who have no interest in that topic and don’t share the same sentiments there probably isn’t a reason for you to read this blog anymore (unless, of course, you are here just to tell me how you don’t like this blog). Just like how i probably won’t read a blog about ancient sewage systems. Unless it is written by Hugh Jackman. But then probably not still.

Yesterday i woke up to find out that Japan has won the bid to host Olympics 2020 (my fingers trembled when i type in Google news), a news i have been waiting and prayed nervously for weeks (/months), and i found myself feeling happier than i have when i met an idol, received a handsome cheque, won an award. I didn’t think Japan is in its best shape to hold an Olympics physically, and other contenders are equally deserving. But i believed they won because they have successfully moved people’s emotions with their souls and hearts (literally, if you see their presentation videos lolol), yet again. They needed this hope. A 7-year-long hope and eventually something great to look forward to and work on. And now it will be an even better place because all eyes are on them and they are pressured to fix whatever issues they have right now. And i was so happy for them.

I couldn’t explain it to anyone why it was so important for me. I guess it’s like when something powers your life and fuels the engine that keeps you moving forward, you tend to also pour your heart in it. It could be your passion for baking, your life career, your precious children.

You passionately share the love you feel, you joyously share what you are comfortable with, you excitedly share what interests you, with occasional explorations of new things and sponsored experiences to make a living. In hope that it reaches someone and touches him and resonates within. That’s probably what blogging means to me now to a large extent.

To be honest, i feel that i enjoy the internet world a lot less these days, because it has become mostly nasty than fun. Before i write something i have to speculate what kind of responses it would generate, if it possibly attracts negative energies, i would rather not do it. And in 2013, 9 years from i first started blogging, just about anything you do can attract negative energies that dampen your spirits.

I realized how silly it was to spend my whole day thinking what kind of witty rebuttal i can prep myself with to counter a potential imbecile’s insult before i post a picture on Instagram. I decided that is quite a waste of my time. I didn’t realize how internet nastiness has actually affected my real personal life. I became defensive and think of a comeback before i even started a fight with people close to me. Because that’s what i was so used to doing online.

When you thought of a clever insult on me you probably feel good for awhile, and when i up you with a cleverer taunt i probably feel better than you for awhile. But in the long run it’s probably hard to feel good based on how shitty you treat other people.

So for that i’d really rather talk about what makes me happy than care about what makes people not happy, and appreciate all 18 of you who are still reading here who genuinely share my happiness and feel good about it.

This blog is for happies.

Thank you, who have fueled this blog for 9 years, who have witnessed and shared little bits of my personal life, my experiences, my dreams. You know who you are.

 

 

 

Lastly, the standard blogniversary questions every year!

1.  When did you start becoming a reader of this blog?

2. Which is your favorite blog post(s)?

3. What would you like to see more this blog or anything you think can be improved?

 

Thanks again, this year.

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