listening to this makes my day instantly better!

i know this isn't what i usually listen to or what i usually recommend, and i doubt it would mean much or seem particularly nice at all to you guys, but somehow i just feel strangely happy listening to this. which is never a bad thing! so give it a try i guess. i don't know, it might work the same way for you. and it might help if you watched the movies (both the first one and this second one) too. by the way, no, that wasn't a subtle hint for you to go watch the movies. i really enjoyed them, and thought they were really funny but i get that they might not appeal to everyone. they're very funny though! but so replete with cusses ("get your stupid fking rope." haha! okay no one else is going to get this.). after watching both movies in a row it takes genuine effort not to curse. i usually make an effort not to, or not out loud in any case, but i curse so much more in my head now after watching the two movies.

doesn't help that they have such cute irish accents! although they do slip into normal american accents sometimes. i wish i could do accents too. it's such a useful talent.

anyway i think being on exchange makes me think a lot more about what i could do alone. okay this seems like an abrupt change of topic, but it's kind of related. it's not "what i could do alone" in general really, more like "where i could go alone". i've been watching a couple of movies and all these few days and sometimes looking at all these places i feel like there're still so many places that i should go to and experience by myself. i know, it's not exactly reasonable to feel this way when i'm already alone here in a new land and all. it's not as if i particularly hate travelling with people, or that i dislike being around people or anything, but exchange has really made me appreciate being able to be on my own a lot more. like i mentioned previously, the first few days i think i really wasn't prepared to handle so much on my own, but now i feel like i've underestimated myself somehow. there're still a lot of things that i can't do, or can't do well (*cough* cooking *cough*). but there are a whole lot of other things that i can do, and which i previously imagined i wouldn't be able to or that i would have a hard time doing. maybe it's all just got to do with adapting. but i'm surprisingly a lot better at adapting than i gave myself credit for.

so yes, i've really been thinking about all the places i could go to alone. travelling alone does bring a lot of inconveniences, but it's so much freedom. and with all that freedom you could really delve into whatever interests you in some place or another, instead of having to accommodate everyone else. i really do enjoy family trips and all, but my memories of wherever we go to seem to be mainly limited to the meals that we had. because it's only during mealtimes that we're really all just seated together and enjoying the company. like when we went to China. i really don't remember too much of it, or where we went (aside from the Great Wall and Xitang, and only because they were pretty hard to forget).

although i know it's quite improbable (parents, sigh), but i want to go off travelling alone so much so that i get sick and tired of my own company. when that happens i'll go back home, and then i'll never go off alone again. wouldn't that be nice.

but we all have our own obligations that shackle us, i guess.

anyway, since this exchange is probably one of the last times i'll be able to be so free and unencumbered i'm going to really make the most of it and stop shuttling between my dorm and my classes. except on mondays, because that's when TWD episodes become available. (:

by the way, i was listening to that theme song (the blood of cuchulainn -- please don't ask me how to pronounce this haha) while typing out this entire entry. wonder if it shows! the happiness the song makes me feel, i mean. it's so uplifting! or maybe it's the general effect that tuesdays have on me, because tuesdays mean that i'll be very free for the next two days since i only have like one class on each day. and true to my decision to make the most of exchange and to stop being a hermit in my dorm room i'm going out both days, and on the weekend too! grocery shopping tomorrow (yay more chances to experiment with cooking) and then i'm headed to shinjuku for thursday. please be nice murphy, and don't let it rain!