So, I've given my blog a fresh, new look! One day while I was writing a post I looked at the page and realized how boring it was, so I brushed up on my ol' HTML skillz and installed in a new template. Too bad I haven't been posting as much!

Seriously though, writing blog posts are pretty time-consuming. I'm not one of those people skilled enough to write a polished post from scratch. First, I have to think of what to say, then I write it down, then I painstakingly go through what I've written a few times to edit and fix all the grammar errors. A short 3-4 paragraph post with 8-10 pictures can take me over an hour to publish and I usually have to be in the mood to write. So, apologies to you readers (the 4 of you) for nothing recent!

A few of the main reasons I keep this blog are to:
1) Let my friends and family back home know what I'm up to,
2) Improve my writing (considering I've only written one essay during my entire University degree), and most importantly:
3) Keep a journal of my time in Japan

I think a lot of us would love to remember all the things we've done or places we've been to in our lives. Some people keep journals, others keep picture albums; I keep a blog. Since arriving in Japan over 10 months ago, I've written 66 snippets of my experiences here and my travels to other countries. I think the greatest loss I could think of would be to lose these memories. If you think about it, everyone saves up money for two things: physical items and experiences. When you travel or see a movie or go to a concert, the experience itself is ephemeral but the memory of it lasts forever. It's the memories and experiences we're paying for, not the plane or concert tickets.

So anyways, that's why I write this blog. Sorry for all the rambling, I'm just thinking in my head.. out loud.. on the internet.. I'll get back to real posts again soon.