This is not the post you think it is. Now I admit that as a dangerous anti-American foreigner plotting to destroy that great nation through the evil that is globalization, I am an Obama supporter and I am happy that today is his inauguration. That said, this is not a post about him; this is a post about me. The title is just a bait.

Note: This entry can be considered administrative in nature and should be skipped if you are looking for anime-related content.

Change: Current

Yesterday, 19th January, was my birthday. Incidentally, it was also the birthday of KOTOKO and Hikaru Utada. As you may know, I graduated from high school last year (school terms start in January in Singapore) and I am currently spending my days at home as a professional hikikomori like Satou from NHK ni Youkoso! except without the cute girl.

Live webcam feed of my room

Change: Near Future

But that is about to change soon. Sometime next week, I will be conscripted into the Singapore Armed Forces as part of a two-year compulsory military service that all Singaporean males have to undergo unless they forfeit their citizenships and seek permanent asylum from the decadent Western capitalist pigs (as defined by conventional ideas of “East” and “West” on a frigging spherical planet).

I digress as usual. But the point of the matter is that I will be incommunicado for at least the first two weeks of boot camp, after which I will get to come out on weekends. Eventually when I receive my permanent assignment after a 7-week boot camp, I should be able to return home every night, thus regaining a daily schedule somewhat similar to high school. (For Singaporeans in the know, the letter C should suffice as further clarification.)

It’s a whole new world out there

Blog updates have been getting pretty infrequent in the last two years due to high school — more to do with girls than coursework — but I guess long-time readers are already used to the status quo, so the main point of this post is to give a heads-up that things may get worse before they get better. At the very least, there will be no updates for about two weeks.

Once boot camp is over however, I foresee renewed activity on this site, a blog renaissance if you will, keeping in mind that RIUVA‘s peak posting period happened to coincide with tj han‘s service to the motherland as a “war journalist”. This makes sense if you know that the Republic of Singapore has never been at war before.

Obama City in Japan’s Fukui prefecture

So to sum my ramblings up…

• There will be a period of two weeks or so without any updates.
• There may be weekly updates in the five-week period after that.
• There will probably be a great increase in the frequency of posting after those initial seven weeks.
• I am glad this is not Israel.

Change: Distant Future

After that, who knows? I will most probably be accepting the offer from Stanford, although funding is still a lingering question as Stanford is not need blind for international students and I did not apply for financial aid since I was advised that it is a suicidal option. I also applied to Carnegie Mellon, Cornell and Caltech under regular decision, although watching The Office has since then drastically lowered my opinion of Cornell. (And this Cornellian agrees.) Hehe.

Communist red — coincidence or conspiracy?

Ultimately, it will probably be Leland Stanford Junior University (I wonder why they don’t use that more often). My current plan to pay the exorbitant fees is IDA‘s National Infocomm Scholarship. My mother’s backup plan is to sell the house. I’m also praying for legal-tender precipitation.

The Blog

I want to keep this blog going indefinitely and I intend to write about whatever I happen to be interested in at any point of time. For the next two years, this is likely to mean anime or anime-related topics, but who knows what the future holds? Maybe I will totally fall in love with cooking one day and start to share my recipes here, or probably not. In any case, near or far, my blog will go on.

To end off, I would like to congratulate America for electing competence against great odds, to wish a belated happy birthday to me, KOTOKO and Hikaru, and to wish those of you out there who do not fully subscribe to the Gregorian calendar a Happy Chinese New Year!

P.S. Sora wo Kakeru Shoujo is indeed a great show.