#i got through possibly the longest february of my life so surely april may june july will be a breeze

[bibelots]

Ok real talk this past year has possibly been one of the hardest yet and I've found that if I ever have a week off the burnout finds me and boy it is some bad burnout

I've only a few months now left in this job then will be starting august unemployed and not really planning to be employed again for a while (due to aforementioned burnout from five incredibly intense years lol)... I'm so tired

[kenkamishiro]

Ishida Sui’s Review of 2019

I didn’t think I’d ever finish this with my onslaught of classes including pharmacology, but I somehow managed! 6k word count, the longest TL I’ve done to date besides Parvati’s interlude for FGO. Lots of insight into Jack Jeanne’s production and what Ishida’s been up to for the past year. It was tough to translate because it was so long, but I had a lot of fun.

Let me know if there are any mistakes, I’m sure there’s a whole bunch. Have fun reading!

Original can be found here.

＊＊＊

2019. I’m reflecting on this past year while flipping through my agenda. Since I’m writing this for my sake, there’s going to be a lot of sections without much explanation.

January

○ This was when Jack Jeanne had yet to be announced, so I was mostly doing preliminary work at the time. Stuff like “BU” and “character facial expressions” will be finished some time this month, is written in my schedule book.

○ New Year’s party in Tokyo from the 16th - 19th. The New Year’s party is a joint party that’s comprised of the 4th editorial department (Shueisha’s seinen magazine branch) that’s held every year in January. I attended the party with the staff every year during serialization, minus my first year.

2019 will be the first New Year’s party since the series ended, but I thought I should stop inviting the staff to attend since we’re not working together anymore (plus it’d be a hassle), so I didn’t really invite anyone. But the day before the event, Editor M brought up the topic inside the taxi and asked, “Are none of the staff coming this year?” (Even if they’re invited now, it’s going to be impossible, asking them to fly the next day and causing a ruckus…) When I replied, “Hey, I’m sure it’d be fun if you invited them and they all came~”, the editor contacted Goubaru-kun, and after said, “He said he’s going.” Guess he wasn’t busy. In the end, the staff during serialization and several people from OB and OG came, almost identical to the lineup from previous years, and it occurred to me that maybe I should have just invited them from the start.

Anyway, at this year’s New Year’s party, I don’t really remember much of what happened. I talked with my senpais from back when I was an assistant for Kingdom, and outside the venue I sobered up from the agoraphobic dizziness I was feeling inside. At the second party I remember people talking to me haphazardly and being photographed. I wish I’d refused. Also, I was sexually harassed by Rikudou Matsubara, my senpai from the same region as me. This New Year’s party will be my last.

February

Briefing session for the game held in Tokyo. Key visual created. It says here [on the agenda] that I want to go to Kagoshima. Every week there’s a checklist for 10 km of jogging and weight training 2-3 times a week. I spent about a week doing some composition work. It ended up being helpful for me, but it made me decide not to work anymore with people with different levels of interest from me.

○ TRPG is written for the 28th. Usually we use the DX (Double Cross) system, but this time one of our participating players, M’s schedule was under mysterious attack. As game master, taking consideration of everyone who’d made time in their schedules for tonight, I thought we could switch to Cthulhu and asked them to wait an hour. 2 hours later I finished coming up with a scenario and began the session. It was fairly fun.

March

Finish BU this month, is clearly noted down. BU stands for bust-up, which are drawings of characters in standing poses [sprites] that are common in ADV games. Normally, since it takes a huge amount of work, the BU work is always divided up. The original drawings are done by the illustrator, in this case I do the base illustrations (line drawing & colouring), and using them as the base, the department sharing the work cleans up the line drawings and recolours it...that’s how the process goes. But since I’m a mangaka and don’t have the technology needed to make gaming assets, I thought it’d be best to leave it to the pros in that field, so that was how that stage proceeded. At that point in time at least.

I also had plans written down to go to Kagoshima. Looks like I didn’t go.

○ TRPG on the 25th. Player M’s schedule lined up with ours, so we played DX with 6 PL plus me as GM. We went to the aquarium, were attacked by witches, and so on.

April

Finish BU, is faintly written down. It seems like the work was more or less completed earlier this month.

○ High school friend K’s wedding on the 6th. Up until then I’d only been to two other wedding receptions. The weddings were for a different friend from high school, and Tajika-san, one of my senpais from Kingdom. This suddenly reminds me of that time at Tajika-san’s reception, when I took a super early flight because I absolutely didn’t want to be late whatsoever, but I ended up not being able to fly for about an hour and a half because of engine trouble or whatever, so I entered at almost the same time as the bride and groom during the reception…

K’s wedding was the first time in my life where I was present all the way from the wedding to the reception, but how should I put it, I was struck by a beam of light. I don’t know who he’s getting married to, I have no clue what their relationship is like. But I was somehow bombarded...by all these thoughts that became jumbled in my head, like the energy in this place, the power of their oaths, questioning what it was, how light isn’t always justice.

I got the feeling that this was what proper, respectable humans take part in, but since I'm fine with not being a proper, respectable human, I decided to not do anything other than what my heart desires.

I'm definitely not good with places where I’m in the spotlight. But congratulations.

○ “Play Sekiro” is strongly noted down. Thank you for supporting me in the first half of 2019.

○ TRPG for the 29th - 30th. DX. Player M’s character dies.

May - June

My schedule book is starting to look more scattered now. On the other hand, since I’ve got a good memory of this time, I can write while recalling the events.

○ I did the covers for the Touken stage play book.

I drew the cover illustrations for the Touken [Ranbu] stage play that Mikasano-san, who I’m grateful to for his work on the anime and movie scripts for TG, worked on. In my mind, it feels like I'm watching the back of who I'd consider my older brother in the creative world, or a fellow comrade on another battlefield fighting to the death. I think it came out quite charmingly, so I’ll include the links for now. Link 1 | Link 2 | Link 3

During this time of work for Jack Jeanne, I was working on “model sheets”. Blueprints for the characters’ attire, not just from the front but also the internal structure.

Unlike most other games, Jack Jeanne has “performance costumes” in addition to normal attire. Because of its “revue” theme, costumes that will be worn onstage needed to be prepared. I was shocked when I suddenly admitted that I needed model sheets for 5 different performances (spring, summer, fall, winter, final) for the 6 main characters, making 30 designs in total.

Back in the TG era, these kind of drawings that I just explained, or drawings that needed a lot of layers, were a pain in the ass. Plus I wasn’t good at them, so I thought that I didn’t want to do it for the rest of my life if possible. But it seems like I have to do this myself. With a sense of determination, I decided to work solely on this for all of May. At the same time, I made nothing but curry for all my meals. There’s no deep reason behind it, but my aim was to kinda boost my ability to concentrate daily by choosing to be decisive in that action.

○ Working on model sheets It came with an unintended effect. Because I spent a month on work that required balance and consistency, my right-left checking skills got better, and completely unrelated, I improved in drawing perfect copies. The design work for the model sheets itself became really fun to do, starting around when I became obsessed with the scarf design (sumo wrestler drawing) I definitely couldn’t use for Neji’s summer costume. I discovered that it’s precisely because I’m not good at this that my labour bore fruit. I feel like this was my experience for the latter half of the year.

July

The cast members were chosen. Unlike TG, there are 6 people + 1 person who can be referred to as the main character, so it was interesting to have a cast with some breadth.

Seems like lyrical work was the main thing I worked on.

Lyrical work. In Jack Jeanne, each performance contains several songs to sing and dance to, so each one is supposed to be sung. ...hence the lyrics.

The topic of what to do with the lyrics was brought up in November 2018. What happens typically is that, let’s say there’s singing in an idol game, then a company that specializes in it is asked to produce the songs. Even for Jack Jeanne, there were several candidates I could pick and choose from. But after a quick look-through, frankly speaking, they all looked the same to me. There’s one person that’s good, it’d be great if we could get them...is what I thought, but, “Even though I don’t have the skills, I’m the one who understands this world the best,” crossed my mind. ...should I try? I tried it. To be honest, I was super embarrassed since it’d be seen by a lot of people, but it evolved into, “Who cares if you’re doing it?” And so Jack Jeanne’s lyrics were tasked to me.

I mentioned this earlier, but there are multiple songs for each performance. So if you combine those plus the opening and ending songs, that makes 17 songs in total. Lyrics for 17 songs that I’m fully responsible for. What the hell...am I doing? Maybe it was from that moment that I started losing it.

Including the lyrics that I’d been working on bit by bit every month, the remaining ones were finished in one go this July. By the time I finished everything, my current state was, “Give me more songs...let me write more lyrics!” But it wasn’t over just yet.

August

Every time I meet someone I tell this story. I’m thinking of keeping it up. Here I am, relieved to have finished the lyrics, when a message pops up on the Skype group chat. It’s from Yamashita Daisuke of Broccoli.

To briefly touch upon Yamashita Daisuke, he is a young man who’s been involved with this project since October of 2018, and a poor soul who was tasked with conducting very important meetings on his third day of working at the company.

The producer from Broccoli was going on maternity leave, so he was scouted as her replacement. As an aside, if I have to be honest, the exchanges between me and Towada-san, and Broccoli’s Jack Jeanne team up until then were quite frustrating. “How about doing it like this?” they would counter. And we’d respond with something like, “This part is going to be developed later on, and since this will become foreshadowing for the entirety of the story, it can’t be modified that easily.” This kind of situation, having to explain everything in detail one by one, going 3 steps forward and being held 2 steps back, had been going on for about 3 years, so the two of us would often whine about it over drinks, going, “When should we quit, this is ridiculous,” etc.

Finally when things began going more smoothly, the producer who was leading the project took her leave, so I wondered if we’d be able to get along with Yamashita Daisuke, but he was, how should I put it, very diligent. For the last year I've been working with people who don’t put in their best effort, so I was very hopeful and thankful to him.

But I digress. This was the gist of the message that Daisuke sent.

“Kosemura-san’s who’s in charge of musical composition wants ‘scratch vocal tracks’ for when the singers are recording.” “Does Ishida-sensei happen to know anyone he could ask for this favour?” “I’m sure it won’t be a problem for you!” “Frankly speaking, it’s okay even if they’re bad.”

Huh. Well, as you might have already guessed, even with the lyrics, it’s impossible to really understand the song at first sight without knowing what kind of rhythm, what kind of emotions are being expressed in the bar measure. Of course we’d need ‘scratch vocal tracks’ to explain the general feeling of the song.

Now, what Daisuke said was, “Do you have anyone you can ask? It’s okay even if they’re bad. Or even you can do it.” But if I found a “it’s okay even if they’re bad” kind of person, we’d still have to show them how to sing it and explain how the rhythm goes. Daisuke already knew which was probably why he asked for the favour. “The person writing the lyrics would be able to make the scratch vocal tracks the fastest.” ...come to think of it, the demo songs that Kunimitsu sent me every time that were sung using Vocaloid, weren’t they also scratch vocal tracks?

Daisuke must have been in a pinch trying to figure out how he should ask me candidly. Ishida-sensei, I couldn’t just ask you to sing it, so I had to ask in a roundabout manner.

I’d already given my answer, but I was still hesitant. It’s true that after I finished writing the lyrics for the 17 songs I’d already lost sight of myself, but if I sang, my singing would reach Broccoli and Kosemura-san’s team’s ears. But I couldn’t just leave poor Daisuke hanging.

So I consult Towada-shi, whom I’d been collaborating with in creating the scripts for Jack Jeanne, for advice. (He had been in charge of TG’s novels, and I’ve known him for a long time.) “Did you check Skype?” “I did.” “What do you think?” “Start by looking up scratch vocal tracks,” so we paid a visit to YouTube. The first search result that came up for ‘scratch vocal track’ was a video of a vocalist who was used to sing a scratch track for AKB or something. I see, so that’s what it looks like. Innocuous, but I could see it was very professionally done.

And the second result that came up was Tsunku♂-shi. The figure of Tsunku♂-shi himself recording a scratch track for his idols. The producer himself became an idol, and was singing really cutely, in his emotions and how he sang it. “This is it?” I said. “Yeah, it is,” Towada-shi agreed. If Kosemura-san and his team, and the people who will be performing the songs have to listen to it, it’d be a disservice to them to half-ass it. I don’t like people who don’t try their best. That means I have to show that attitude myself. Let’s come out of my shell for poor Daisuke as well.

“You’re gonna become Tsunku♂.” “Yeah...I’m gonna be Tsunku♂!” And that was how I became Tsunku♂.

I replied to Daisuke on the Skype group chat. “Understood, I’ll do what I can.”

So this guy, who doesn’t even know what the ‘D’ in DTM stands for, first downloads the software, and begins setting up a recording environment. Other work is pushed aside. I set 3 days to work on this.

I timidly begin working on the scratch tracks. From the perspective of someone who doesn’t have to listen to their singing for a living, it starts out as a living hell, but you get used to it as you listen to it over and over.

And so I kept learning new things. I noticed I was harmonizing with myself.

Just like Tsunku♂-shi, I’d change the voice for each character. If it was Jack (male in a male role) I’d sing like a man, and if it was Jeanne (male in a female role), then like a woman, while the main character Kisa (female) should sound cute... No, Kisa needs to be cuter! I re-recorded her part many times. Depending on the song, I’d sing for 7 people. I was Jack Jeanne now.

Tsunku♂ (I) recorded 17 songs in 3 days, and sent the data first to Towada-shi. Since I was now Tsunku♂, I no longer felt any sense of embarrassment.

“I listened to it,” the reply came, and I called him. Towada-shi was roaring with laughter. I regained the embarrassment I’d forgotten.

“Oh no, I was laughing ‘cause I was impressed,” he said, but my heart was already as fragile as that of an abandoned dog.

“Even this is a big help to Kosemura-san, and Daisuke should be grateful, right?” Yeah. Although Towada-shi guffawed at me, Daisuke will surely thank me. And then he’ll definitely tell me what a good job I did!

I dumped the music into the Skype group chat. “I did what I could,” I added.

How will Daisuke react to my Tsunku♂? I waited restlessly. Three days later on August 5th, a formal message arrived after it was received.

“Thank you very much. We will schedule a meeting with Kosemura-san…”

I couldn’t believe my eyes. My hard work got dismissed with, “Thank you very much.”

Daisuke, why? I thought you were in a pinch, so I...were...were you fooling with me from the start? Answer me! Daisuke! Just tell me I did a good job, or follow up with something, I’m fine with anything! So much for my heart being like an abandoned dog, it’s more like a grown-ass man left naked on a snowy mountain. I did what I could! This feeling was welling up inside me, but was it myself that managed to do it?

○ Later, at a meeting with Kosemura-san “It’s great that you could do this much for us. You didn’t have to do all that.” With the gist of those words, a warm blanket was finally placed over my heart, which had almost frozen to death.

“I didn’t know how to respond. I wasn’t sure if Sensei was the most who did it in the first place,” Daisuke said, so I decided to satisfy myself by threatening, “I’m gonna tell this story until the day I die.”

September

○ Responses to the Questions to Ishida Sui contest We did a “Ask anything to Ishida Sui” contest as a project for the art book “zakki:re”, where purchasers could apply with a postcard. I was writing the replies for them.

I thought there’d be a lot more questions about TG or its contents, but surprisingly there were a lot of questions asking for life advice. There were quite a few questions that I had to seriously think about to answer.

It was kinda tough since there were over a hundred of them, but I thought it’d be nice to get in touch like this every once in a while.

○ BU work for Jack Jeanne Once the music-related tasks like lyrical composition and scratch vocal tracks were completed, I worked on BU. ...BU work? Wasn’t it finished back in April?

Well, a similar situation arose just like what happened with the lyrics. Regarding sprite quality I might not be able to beat the pros, but since I’m the one who best understands how the characters look best and their body balance, I had decided to do all the line drawing colouring myself in June. I had no clue whether I’d make the deadline or maintain the quality, but thanks to Broccoli’s understanding, I was allowed to make it myself.

I realized once again that I’m terrible at splitting up work. If I can do it by myself, I will.

Plus, it’s, how should I put it, starting from my TG days, even though it wasn’t a lot I got to see various types of workplaces. I’d see places where there was no sense of responsibility whatsoever, or the work may have been divvied up appropriately, but it felt like they were making something without a sense of purpose, like a main plot line that isn’t going anywhere.

It’s impossible to accomplish big things with that kind of stance, and I understand that the more people that intervene, the more uncertain the core becomes, so I didn’t like that kind of approach. It makes me wonder whether there’s any meaning in creating a work that’s conservative and unchallenged, and if it’s nothing more than a money grab.

Since I don’t have any desire for material things, getting fed up about it is useless, but I just can’t help thinking about it.

Of course, it may be difficult to get what I want 100% of the time, but I want to create things in an environment that I think is beautiful, even in places that I’m slightly involved in.

...in other words, BU work is tough, but I began remaking the sprites once again by myself. This was the toughest work I’ve ever done out of everything, including the serialization...

○ Scratch vocals training camp at the end of September I went to the recording for the scratch vocal tracks. Based on the scratch tracks that I made, we got professional vocalists to sing it again properly. This is what the actual cast would use as a reference to sing. (So my version was like the pre-scratch vocal track.)

I was stuck in Tokyo for almost a week. Wake up, get ready, go to the recording studio. Come back at 8 or 9 pm, rest and sleep, repeat.

It was like I was back in school, and since I don’t have a steady lifestyle, I enjoyed it.

Kosemura-san’s team is really great, and I know I mentioned this before, but I felt like their workplace was a very healthy production site. When I was drawing manga, I never had much time to talk with fellow manga artists, and I’ve never had the chance to experience what other professionals’ workplaces were like, so it was very exciting for me to see people as professionals tackle one thing seriously. The vocalists were as amazing as I expected, and although my scratch tracks were played at a loud volume to annoy me, I had a great time.

The game might have a high level of entry, but it’s worth listening to just for the songs, is what I truly thought.

○ Parting words to Editor M-shi This might have been back in August, but from 2018 to 2019 I had a lot of things on my mind, so I began talking to the editor.

In between the 11 years of serialization starting from my rookie days, I’d received guidance from him so it wasn’t easy, but I expressed to him that we should keep our distance for any future works.

“I want to become absorbed in myself, not to Ishida Sui or Tokyo Ghoul,” I told him. The other part said he also felt the same way, and accepted it. The next time we meet, I hope we can talk about what we’re into, what we’re going crazy over, he said.

And so, 2 months after that conversation was the scratch vocals training camp in Tokyo, and I had the chance for the two of us to talk again. That day I was completely tuckered out from recording the scratch track, but it was a day filled with accomplishments.

He took me to a restaurant with delicious food in Ebisu or somewhere, and after concluding our brief business meeting, I tried throwing out the cliched, “So, what are you up to lately?” As the lead writer, there was a part of me that was curious about how he was doing after that talk we had.

The editor began talking about homemade curry.

...that’s what he’s into? I decide everything from selecting and picking the ingredients myself, and next time I want Ishida-kun to also see how delicious the curry is...he told me passionately, but how should I put it, the conversation wasn’t very spicy.

The food was delicious.

October

○ BU work

What’s hard about BU work is that it’s difficult to separate the layers according to the face, hair and clothes, and they all have to have the same style and touch to it. If it was manga, then maybe...no, even in manga, there’s still some need to match the outfits, but it doesn’t really matter to that extent.

It’s because I don’t like game sprites. “This character has so much energy from their sideways pose! Amazing!” This never happens…

Around this time of the year, my older sister called this elaborate task, “the task you’re probably the worst at.”

○ The bean life I’m not really fat in particular, but I made up my mind to try dieting. At the time, my body fat percentage was at 18%, and I’ve never been below 10% ever in my entire life, so I’m thinking of aiming for that. Instead of eating rice with unseasoned chickpeas and black soybeans, I began my lifestyle of consuming vegetables and cuts of meat with less fat. Hopefully I can achieve my goal in about six months’ time.

○ Ano-chan, Honda Keisuke, and I After Ano-chan left “You’ll Melt More!”, her official Twitter account removed every single account she was following, but for some reason only two people remained. Those two people were Honda Keisuke and Ishida Sui. To Ano-chan, Honda Keisuke and Ishida Sui belonged in the same category. After some time passed, even we were removed, but I consider this one of my hottest mysteries of 2019. Ano-chan! I’ll always be waiting, so let’s have tea some time with Honda Keisuke!

November

○ BU Need I say more.

○ Main cast’s first recording session from the 26th - 27th.

I visited Tokyo with Towada-shi to supervise the main cast members’ recording session. Wow, everyone was so amazing~

Of course, not just the main characters. Terasaki Yuka-san who plays the main character, Tachibana Kisa, was wonderful as well.

In this kind of game genre, the position as the main character feels less important than the male characters, but I want her to stand firmly in this story’s script. I thought it’d be nice to have the main character not stand out too much and have her watch over the male characters, and I felt that Terasaki-san’s voice and acting fit that image perfectly.

About the cast members, it seems like there’ll be a chance to speak to them eventually, so I’ll come back again.

○ 1 month into the bean life I’m steadily losing weight. Basically I always work from home. I go to the gym and supermarket 2-3 times a week. I started cooking for myself. I got a brand new refrigerator to replace the one that suddenly broke. It actually cools things down now. Living standards have risen.

December

○ I break off ties with M who I played TRPG together with. He was a former classmate who was even chief assistant at some point during the series’ run, but eventually he ended up getting fired due to falling asleep at work. He said he’d attend the last session for the story that day (although his own character had already died), and I was working on a schedule to accommodate him, but once again he cancelled at the last minute.

It’s fine to cause trouble for me (although I’ll probably get pissed), but I can’t overlook treating others the same way. And it’s not the fact that his schedule didn’t match up, it’s because he was complete trash who didn’t know how to behave like an adult once he made plans with others, that I felt sorry for the other TRPG people who took time out of their schedules. Since I felt ashamed when I was together with him, I decided I’d had enough.

This was a year where I cut ties with a lot of people, but I think what they had in common was that I was ashamed to be with them. From now on, I don’t want to associate with such people.

What’s more, when I finally told him, he didn’t even try to deal with it and just gave up, responding, “So that’s how you felt about me. Okay. My bad.”

I won’t go anywhere with those kind of people again.

○ The bean life ⇒ the potato life. I changed it to potatoes.

○ BU is over...

On December 17th, I finally finished the BU work that I spent ageeeeeeeees on.

Although I said that serialization is tough, as long as I finished 18 pages a week that was it (although there were times where I was chasing myself with other work), so I could finish it as long as I didn’t sleep. I somehow managed to finish both the manuscripts and the colour illustrations this way, so expecting BU to be similar, I wasn’t really scared about it never ending, but BU truly was despair. When is this gonna end? I’m even working super hard… This is how it went on the entire time for over a month.

There were about 200 different sprites I had to make myself, including the different costumes and poses, and I had to do all of them.

For one thing, when, “This process is necessary,” came out, I had to go through the same process roughly 200 times, that it felt like I was facing the final boss who already transformed many times. Also, it’s like not equipping myself with a lot of equipment and recovery items in the previous town, but the dungeon I somehow managed to enter is extremely dangerous and even though there’s no safe points anywhere in sight, the boss suddenly comes up behind you, and you go I’m gonna die I’m gonna die

○ If you eat a lot while you’re losing weight, you’re going to have a bad time.

On December 15th I had trouble concentrating, so I tidied up the living room, created a space in the middle of the room, and darkened the lights. After an hour of meditating, only the sound of my breathing could be heard in the room, and so I went back to work with renewed concentration after confronting the issue (like a monk?).

On December 16th, I’ve been working the entire time since morning. I thought today was going to be the last day, but an entire day has passed and I don’t have any energy...

I’ll buy a midnight snack, replenish my energy, and end it once and for all. I’m trying to lose weight, but I went to the convenience store while thinking about how I’m gonna eat a katsu sandwich (I didn’t have the energy to cook).

While looking for something at a convenience store I can eat during weight loss, I think back over the last few months.

Like how it seems like BU is finally over, how a lot of things have happened, how I’m working hard, how lately I’ve been eating only potatoes, vegetables and meat.

And then I suddenly thought, “I wonder if the reason I don’t have any energy is because I haven’t had any rice lately.”

...I thought I should go on a diet in October, so I’ve been living a very modest life since then. Thanks to that, my weight has steadily decreased, and my body fat percentage has gone down 3% to 15%. What will happen if I continue with my relatively strict dietary restrictions during this difficult time?

...even if you’re losing weight, there’s a technique you can set up to binge eat during periods where weight loss stagnates, called cheat day (though results may vary), but what is it that makes no-cheating so inefficient even for weight loss?

...should I have a cheat day today?

“Huh, is it really okay?” I asked my mind. “Do it!” was the answer I got. From that moment, everything around me morphed into things I could eat.

No exaggeration, my knees trembled.

I crammed into my shopping basket carbohydrates, carbs, more carbs… It’s okay just for today, I say as I shove cream puffs, dorayaki, pudding, Family Mart chicken and ice cream. (Even if it's a cheat day, it’s probably not a good idea to take non-nutritional foods, but shh.)

With food in both hands and in high spirits, the first thing I ate was the delicious part of the Family Mart chicken.

I groaned loudly, all alone in the room.

Alright, let’s finish this work! I was energized, but my blood sugar levels spiked so much that I felt extremely sleepy and went to bed instead.

The next day on the 17th, I wake up at 4 am and immediately notice something unusual. My body is burning. I’m sweating.

I immediately wake up, and overflowing with energy, I head for my desk. I’m working actively, and I finish the BU work. It felt like I was pushing forward with only positive energy, feeling uplifted.

I break out a laugh at a slight joke I found funny from a foreign drama (The Mentalist) I’m playing while working. The greenery of the plants and the lighted sink glisten, and the scenery is vivid.

What is this?

I suddenly recall the story of a YouTuber I saw recently. He lives in a region where medical marijuana is legalized, and he explained in detail what changes would occur if you smoked cannabis.

To put it roughly, you feel calm and your senses sharpen. Trivial things can become funny, and funny videos can make you roar with laughter.

Then maybe...I thought, I'll watch Nagareboshi (a comedy duo) on YouTube. Usually I go, haha, that's funny! But that day I exploded with laughter...all of their videos were just too funny.

I learned that when you’re losing weight and suddenly eat a lot, it alters your mind and body as if you smoked cannabis. (※ Just to be clear, I don’t know what cannabis is like.)

Thus the BU work ended with me being high as a kite.

(※ I’m covering it with mosaics for now. I’ll remove it once I can announce it.)

○ I stopped playing TRPGs. I’ve been doing it for about two and a half years, but it also helped me in honing my creative skills. I’d sometimes perform, so it was useful when I was recording the scratch vocals… It was a good experience, managing to vicariously live the energy of ending a story. It was a story about a group of friends, so it was easy to appreciate.

Summing up 2019

After the weekly series finished in 2018, I was in a daze for a few months, but in 2019 I worked only on Jack Jeanne for the year.

This year I tried various things, and trite as it may seem, felt the possibilities within myself expanding. I had many opportunities to realize how important it is to keep a distance from bad things that don’t do anything for me.

During my work on Jack Jeanne, I vaguely thought about my future creations. The work I’m doing now in game production is fun so I wonder if I can keep working in this field, but I’d also like an environment where I can release things more constantly.

I can’t promise anything specific, but I’m going to work on things that I want to do.

I look forward to what 2020 has to offer. Have a happy New Year.

2019.12.31 Ishida Sui

[meganambers]

    When you sit and listen to the founder and creator of “Urbane by Charles Jay“, Charles Jay, not only do you walk away with a genuine knowledge of what it takes to build a fashion empire, you walk away inspired. Dealing with the difficulty of being diagnosed with a Wilms Tumor at the tender age of 2, it was evident that Jay was born a fighter. Dedicated to living his life the way he saw fit, Jay played sports (basketball) all throughout his middle school and high school years, despite doctor’s orders, leading up to broken records as the starting point guard at Rutgers. Now at the age of 27, Jay has implemented the memories of going through the “hardest fight” of his life, fighting Kidney cancer into his brand, making him an icon in his own right. “When I was going through my treatment, when I was at the children’s hospital, I would play with these building blocks. And I was inspired to use the same style of the building blocks on my products, It’s the staple point of the brand, it is the brand.”

Celebrating his 25th year of remission, the designer talks about the challenges of building his own fashion brand, while attending school and working full-time, witnessing his clothing on VH1’s Love & Hip-Hop: New York for the first time and meeting his idol Rapper/Producer and Culture Advocate Swizz Beatz. 

Who is Charles Jay?

“So at age 2, I was diagnosed with a Wilms Tumor, that’s cancer of the kidney. I had my right kidney removed, I went through chemotherapy, I stand today a cancer survivor of 25 years. Looking back on that experience, the building blocks meant that I was taking everything that I’ve been through as far as the cancer experience, and using that as the foundation of how I wanted to live my life. 

Growing up, I wasn’t supposed to play any sports, no physical activities of any kind because with one kidney, if I was to get hit too hard it could cause your single kidney to fail and you would have to get another transplant or you could possibly die. But I played basketball up til college, I played all throughout middle school with a kidney guard. It was very uncomfortable to wear. Once I reached high school, I told my doctors that I did not want to play with the guard anymore and they told me that I could at my own discretion. So throughout high school, I went through a lot of experiences of me being undersized and coaches would tell me that I was too small to play in college. So after high school, I was supposed to attend a university in Florida, but due to tuition being very high, I attended Rutgers, getting in two days before classes started. I walked into the coaches’ office and told them that I wanted to try out for the team. And I ended up starting since my freshman year, starting point guard. The school never had won a season in the entire school history, my senior year I had set five records.

But throughout my college years, I have always been into fashion. I was that guy that sat in class 8 AM in the morning, with a blazer and a bowtie on. (laughs) And I always helped people developed their brands, along with my schooling. I worked with photographer Devon Dooley, who has worked with Sneaker Villa, Ryan Leslie and etc. I also worked with some artists to help build their brands as well, but I wasn’t doing anything necessarily for myself. So when I graduated I knew it was the perfect time to start a clothing brand. And I had a tunnel vision of knowing that I was going to make this happen regardless of what anybody thought. The main goal of my brand has always been to tell my story, my cancer surviving story through the product. So whatever collection is released, Whatever product of mines that are released, they all do tell a part of my story.

My very first collection is called “the survivor” collection, an all-white baseball jersey with a big fist, a description of what a survivor is, on the back with the year “93”, which is the year that I was diagnosed with cancer. And the “93” is important and will be seen on all of the products. That jersey released for $300, out of the gate and I didn’t really care about what people thought in a sense, I just wanted to make clothing that I knew was high quality and that meant something to me. And from there I started dealing with overseas manufacturers, which that is a different realm than from anything that I have ever experienced before. When you deal with overseas manufacturers, you have to deal with minimum order quantity, you have to order from at a minimum of 100, 200 or 500 pieces of that one style or color. So the cost can be extremely high and the risk is also very high because you’re not necessarily there at the factory, so if there was something to go wrong with the production, you won’t know until the product comes in. So fast forward to this past February, we were featured on VH1’s Love and Hip-Hop. A stylist reached out to me and we sent some products to her and about two months later, I received a text message telling me that my brand was featured on Love and Hip-Hop on Rapper Jaquae. So after that, I had a new windbreaker that was set to be released at the end of March. Which would have been perfect after the LHHNY appearance, and the brand would have been able to elevate to its fullest potential. Unfortunately, that did not happen. I started production, I am taking customer’s preorders, we are about a month in and I receive a message from the manufacturers notifying me that they could no longer continue this production. I had already sent them money, I had to deal with explaining to the customers who had preordered what the circumstances were. So I was in the middle of negotiating with the manufacturer for over a month and a half, trying to get the order down from 100 to 80 because the order was already at $6,000. So in the middle of a negotiation, we agreed on a new release date of April. It got pushed back to June, and then July, August, and September and wasn’t released until October. So the brand went seven months without any social media push, no presence on the socials, no products, and no revenue to even generate any other type of products. All my money was tied up into my business and I had to go seven months without my products. So throughout that time, I had to find a new manufacturer, which is the factory that I used for my “Unbreakable” collection and I am currently using for my entire line.”

“Whether it is a financial or a personal situation, anything that I have endured now is just a minor stepping stone because I already overcame the biggest obstacle of my life.”

How would you say your four years at Rutgers impact the way you wanted to express your mission statement of Urbane Clothing?

“Being a full-time athlete, full-time student and working full-time, it was an experience in which I had to grow up fast and it put me in a position where I had to make things happen. For example, my financial aid was dropped and I had to pay my tuition on my own, so I went through a lot of adversaries in college. Whether it was personal, my athletic career or with family. So I want to instill that into the story behind my brand because being born with cancer, I am not supposed to be here today. If you look at the statistics, I am not supposed to be here. And with anything that I go through in life, I always look back at that experience with the mindset that anything of the present time is minor. Whether it is a financial or a personal situation, anything that I have endured now is just a minor stepping stone because I already overcame the biggest obstacle of my life. And that’s what I live through with the brand. And at Rutgers, I was tested. I had to go into school full-time, I had my basketball team full-time, and I had to pay my tuition, by working full-time. It tested me mentally, physically, emotionally, and spiritually. So when I move into my collection, I literally take everything that I have been through into consideration when I am picking the fabrics, I make sure that the quality is up at a certain level, I literally put everything that I have ever been through into my products.”

  When you speak of your collection, how did you come up with the three unique pieces, “The Rugby”, “The Cloak”, and “The Set”? What sets the three apart from one another?

 “So growing up, I was and still am a huge Harry Potter fan. I literally live, breathe and sweat, Harry Potter for like the longest time. I read all of the books and I watched all of the movies. And with “The Cloak”, the inspiration kinda stems from Harry Potter, especially when he would put on the invisibility cloak on when he didn’t want to be seen. And I know that may sound super, super corny, but I am a Harry Potter fiend. But from a clothing and fashion standpoint, Panchos has always been around, but they haven’t necessarily been developed to a point where it is considered as a high fashion statement piece. Which is what I wanted to bring into the market. I designed the cloak back in March, which is crazy because Northface did a collaboration with a japan streetwear company and comme de garcon just dropped a cloak as well. So as far as being intuned with where fashion is heading, I kinda know where things are going. And that has been the inspiration behind the cloak. The capsule collection is called, “unbreakable” because everything that I have been through could have broken me. But I haven’t been broken yet, I went from beating cancer, seven months with a product, it just shows the resilience of me and the resilience of the brand. Even down to the material used for the cloak, it is completely water-proof and weather resistant. So the fabric behind the collection actually speaks to what the collection is about as well.

“The Rugby” is made from a material that is simply amazing, we use a 300GSM french terry. Most people don’t exactly know what GSM is. GSM is pretty much the weight of the fabric, like grams per meter. So 300GSM for a shirt is extremely heavy. Most french terry shirts are anywhere between 140 and 180, and on the occasion 200GSM. But a 300GSM polo or rugby shirt is not necessarily seen a lot. It is more so in high fashion, like the Gucci or Burberry brands. And the inspiration behind the design is the Rugby looks like a referee shirt. I played basketball my whole life and that was the inspiration behind that whole look. And even with cultural differences, like for instance, China where my clothes are made, they don’t use vertical stripes because it is not something that their culture has not brought into. And a lot of the designs that you see you rarely see vertical stripes because most people don’t want to do it because it is not common. I am literally that person that would go off into the deep end and do something completely different from anyone else has tried and I will try to find ways to make it work. So that was the approach when it came down to the designing of the Rugby. Even with the design on the back, we did a digital print onto the fabric, which again, digitally printing onto the fabric of a 300GSM french terry cotton, it doesn’t normally happen. The ink could bleed through the fabric, but the design came out amazing. We did a drag logo, so that is like seven different colors, 93s on top of each other. And then, of course, we have the color blocks that is embroidered on the front of the shirt, and we have a cancer ribbon on the right sleeve of the shirt. So again, as far as putting the story into the products, every single symbol means something.

And finally, the Anorak is simply a pullover that is a half zip. And the idea behind the Anorak was me wanting to create a sweatsuit but I didn’t want to use the traditional cotton material, I wanted to do something completely different, and that it follows the guideline of the collection. So the Anorak is made of Pu, it’s not real leather but it is a substitute of leather. But it is completely weather and water resistant. Also on the joggers, there are velcro straps at the bottom that allows you to adjust the size of the pants at the bottom so you can change them from joggers to a wider fit at the bottom. We really wanted to implement the customization aspect of fashion because that is where the fashion industry is going. Everything is going to customization, functionality and tech wear. And this is to take place within the next four to five years, so we wanted to get on it as early as possible to start implementing new techniques to our products.”

You just recently released the BTS visual of the “unbreakable” collection, what inspired the aesthetics of the visual?

“Earlier this year, I linked up with a photographer by the name of RooCastro, an amazing photographer. And he actually tracked me down and he told me “I want to shoot for your brand. I feel like the way that it is being shot now is not necessarily doing the brand justice.” And I am the type of person if someone approaches me with an idea about my brand, I am going to entertain it. I am never going to shut anybody out. I always listen to everybody’s opinion. So I ended up meeting up with him at a networking event and he was like, “listen, man, I’ve been trying to get in contact with you for like forever and now that I’ve found you, we got to shoot.” He told me that the direction of my brand is awesome and he felt like I could do more high fashion in my photo shoots because that is the quality of my products. So after linking up with Roo, we did our first photo shoot and we killed it. The whole aesthetics of the brand changed from one single photo shoot. We went from an urban streetwear company to high fashion brand just from doing one photo shoot differently. And with this campaign, Roo and I sat down with the products and bounced ideas back and forth. We just felt that the vision for this campaign has like a futuristic kind of feel. And we want to do something down to the way that the models are styled. I linked up with two of my boys, who are brothers, and they run their own styling company called, “A gentleman’s journey”. I added them to the project because I trust their fashion sense and gut instincts on how certain pieces should be styled. So we ended up finding a location, an empty warehouse, and we all just put our heads together to make this very edgy, high fashion, rugged looking campaign. And we also wanted to implement something completely different to where models are moving past each other and just selling their clothes through the photo shoot. But also getting people to see and feel the concept behind the capsule collection. The ruggy, that darkness into lightness kind of feel. And that was the whole vibe of the shoot. And I also have a young kid that I met at a mall, four days prior to the shoot. He told me that he loved the brand and wanted to shoot for me as well. I explained to him that I couldn’t pay him at the moment, but if he still wanted to work that was cool, but if not that is also cool. He ended up coming to the shoot and producing the whole campaign video. He directed and edited it all on his own, without any direction from me. He literally killed the BTS video.”

So I understand that you just came back from Art Basel. What was that experience like? Was it your first time and will you go back?

“Well, that was my first time attending Art Basel. The crazy thing is I wasn’t even supposed to be there. The only reason why I even went was that I had sent Swizz (Beatz) a direct message and in the message, I sent him an article that was on Philly.com, about me playing basketball at Rutgers, beating cancer and starting a clothing line. The dude gets like a million DMs a day, people sending him music and etc, did I think he was going to read it? Probably not. But I took a shot and sent it to him. He actually had the opportunity to not only read the article but to also send me back a short message, “This is really dope. Keep going.” He is not the kind of person to give you full on sentences, he is going to give you these short statement but they will mean a lot. So fast forward to two and a half weeks ago, I sent him the pictures from the “unbreakable” collection, he sent back a couple of the fire emojis and a target emoji. From there I told him that I wanted to get some products out to him. I shared that he has been a huge inspiration since day one and I follow his story since forever and how involved he is in the culture. He sent me back the invite to “No Commission”. The invite was completely VIP, where I did not have to pay for anything, I got full access to every event for “No Commission”. I literally called my job, which I am still a manager in retail and it is really hard to get time off especially on weekends and during holidays, and I called my District manager and told them that I have a once in the lifetime opportunity and I can’t miss it.

So the week before that was when the “Unbreakable” collection was supposed to start shipping out, and I had to put out like $8,000 for that order and the shipment on top of that around $1,200. The product reached the HUB in Cincinnati and with some new tax laws, I had to pay an extra $1,500 to get the product out. And if I didn’t pay that $1,500 within seven days, the product would get shipped back to China. I was literally down to my last dollar and I had to put that money towards getting the product out. So I didn’t even have the money to get to Art Basel, I was literally on my last dollar. So my girlfriend was like, “Listen, I will book the trip, you have to go. It is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, you have to go.” So she booked the trip for me, we left Thursday morning and landed just in time for the first event. It was a panel discussion, featuring Tyler Michelle (Beyonce’s VOGUE photographer), a couple of other very prominent photographers within the industry. So I am at the panel discussion, I did not have any of the product with me, just the Intype of the photographers about branding and everyday life as a creator. Of course, Swizz was there and I got to talk to him for about a minute. I caught him on the way out, I shook his hand and I thanked him for the invite and he thanked me for coming down. And that was the only conversation that we had that day. So later that night, there was a concert with DJ Black Coffee, two other DJs and then Swizz had a set, I sat in the front of the concert for four and a half hours with the Rugby shirt in my hand. He came up for the last statement of the evening and I placed the shirt over the gate and his security guards grabbed it and he shouted me out over the microphone. The next event was the following day, the paint and sip and it was completely VIP. There were about 40 people there, photographers, videographers, just people getting footage of the event and Swizz literally walks in wearing the Rugby shirt that I had given him the night before. And Swizz is the type of person that if he wasn’t feeling something or didn’t rock with it, he is not going to support it at all. So for him to come to the event with my product on, that was one of the most mind-blowing experiences ever. Because of the night before when I passed the shirt to him, I didn’t think he was going to wear the next day. The fit was perfect on him to the point where he just threw it on with a pair of sweats and it still came across as elegant.

So I spoke to him again at this event, this time was wearing the Anorak and he jokingly asked me “So you weren’t going to give me the pants too?”. It was at that moment that it became clear to me that he really rocks with my brand. And about two-three days ago, I posted a picture on my (personal) Instagram and he commented, “Yo, when are you going to send me my box?” with some laughing emojis. He is a very genuine person and when you are for the culture, he will rock with you. He put me on with a lot of people that were in attendance, like Akon’s little brother and Busta Rhymes. There were so many creatives from all around the world that saw my shirt and when I wore it to the concert the next night, at least 40 people stopped me, complimenting not only on the shirt but also telling me that they saw it on Swizz. And it was such an unreal experience. I went from the bottom of the bottom with my finances, my mental capacity and dealing with all of this the week before meeting him. Fast forward to the following week, I am at Art Basel with Swizz Beatz. And it just showed me that with my faith and trust in God had literally shifted to a 110% faith.

It does appear that Swizz is a huge supporter of your brand, wearing one of your shirts to his Son’s soccer game in South Africa. So of course, the question on everybody’s mind is can we expect a collaboration between yourself and Swizz in the near future?

“Yes, in South Africa. It was absolutely crazy because he had just worn the shirt the week before. As for a collaboration, I am not one of those people that will press an issue or an opportunity. If it happens, that would be amazing, because I know creatively, we can create something that would be completely off the wall. But to me, the business relationship is cool, but being able to have that personal relationship with somebody like that is ten times more important to me. I can learn from someone like him and I can learn so much. I would cherish that so much more rather than from a business standpoint on how can I maximize this opportunity. When things happen, it will happen. I am not going to press an issue, because I feel like that can damage a relationship. When you have access to these type of people the moment you start to press them, is the moment that they will see you as someone who is just trying to get up off of their name. I am the complete opposite of that type of person. But a collaboration would be fire.” (laughs)

“Finding the people was hard. I had to learn how to trust people and understand that given the opportunity, people can flourish and do well.”

You once said that you have built an “amazing team” around you, and in your experience, what is the key to developing a great team?

“That was exactly one of the most difficult things that I ever had to do. The reason why is because I am one of those people who believe that I can do everything and although I can do a lot, it is when I try to do everything I become overwhelmed. Finding the people was hard. I had to learn how to trust people and understand that given the opportunity, people can flourish and do well. But if I don’t give them the opportunity to flourish and be fully creative, they won’t have the ability to get out of their comfort zone and grow. So that was one of the biggest things that I had to overcome. I think the biggest thing is having trust in people and believing that they can deliver. I learn that I can’t do everything and be effective at the one main thing that I need to be effective at.”

What advice would you give a young creative that wants to leave a footprint in the fashion industry today?

“One of the pieces of advice that I would give them is to never conform to the fashion industry. I think that is one of the biggest things that I have learned from day one. I don’t care about what is going on in the fashion industry. From a business aspect, I care about what is going on behind the scenes, the business of fashion. But as far as the designs, the trends, you have to stay true to your vision and trust it 100%. The moment you don’t fully trust your vision or you don’t trust your process, you will start to conform to what everyone else is doing. If you are in it for the creative aspect and you really want to be different and leave your stamp in the fashion industry, you have to do some things that are not traditional and test the waters. You will have to try different designs and think outside the box. If you are designing based on trends, that is what your brand is going to be. Your brand will become a trend. I have seen a million brands sell 100K in their first or second year, and by the following year, they are nonexistent. The reason for that is because they haven’t done the work to build a brand, therefore there is no brand. Their company is based on the people that wear their clothing, which is the influencers. If you choose to only work through the influencers and not build an actual brand and have a story behind your brand, your brand becomes reliant on the influencers.”

  Finish these statements:

When I get dressed in the morning, I think about…

I don’t even think I think in the morning. (laughs) I literally just throw clothes on and run to work. When I get dressed in the morning I think about I am constantly thinking about my next design. That is just kind of like where my mind goes, it immediately travels to what’s next? What is the next step? What is the next design? What is the next project? What is the next thing that I am doing to help get my brand to the next level? Yeah, that is pretty much what I think about. (laughs)

The soundtrack of my life is…

Victory lap [by Nipsey Hussel]. That is the soundtrack of my life right now. Granted I am not a drug dealer and I haven’t sold drugs (laughs), from the figurative message behind it, I feel like I have had it [the album] on repeat for the last six, seven months. Just from everything that I have gone through over the past seven months, with everything that Nipsey talks about on that album speaks on how I was feeling throughout that entire process.

If you could recreate a capsule inspired by one album, what would it be and why?

I can’t remember the name and I feel like I am going to get yelled at. (Laughs) It’s an Outkast album. Why am I having a brain fart right now? [This is when I look up a list of Outkast albums and came to the conclusion, Jay was thinking of Speakerboxxx/The love below] Speakerboxxx. Yes. The creativity on that album was through the roof, down to the visuals. Most of the visuals had a high school or college inspired theme, so I would take that and create a varsity, very sporty vibe.

The most treasured thing in my closet is..

Would be the first design that I ever made. The ‘Survivor’ jersey. It’s white on white, all embroidered, the material is amazing. It is the staple point of my life.

I could never travel without my…

Well right now, I can’t travel without my girlfriend because she will kill me. (laughs) That would definitely be the first thing, but the second thing would be my laptop. I get so much inspiration from the things around me, the environment and the energy, to the point if I do not have my laptop on me, I will drive myself crazy.

The last thing that I googled was…

Something about google analytics. (laughs) I was looking at it this morning. I’m a cornball, but it’s alright though.

I will always be excited to work in Fashion because…

I get to express myself. And I don’t have to worry about what anyone else thinks, I don’t need confirmation from the fashion industry. When you are a creator and you get to that space where nobody on the outside truly affects the way that you create, there is no ceiling. You can literally reach as far as you want. I am so obsessed with my own progression and I continuously want to outdo myself with every single thing that I do. That motivation is always in the back of my mind.

IAmMeganAmbers Exclusive: Charles Jay, Founder of Urbane By Charles Jay Talks Childhood Cancer, Meeting Swizz Beatz and Beating The Odds When you sit and listen to the founder and creator of "Urbane by Charles Jay", Charles Jay, not only do you walk away with a genuine knowledge of what it takes to build a fashion empire, you walk away inspired.

[artmakingturtle]

Muse’n’Ramble #3: 2016

A Personal Retrospect of 2016

Each year I have a tradition. I choose a theme, usually an abstract idea, ideal, or aspiration, and I muse over it throughout each year. Every month, I choose a sub-theme in tandem with a music track to tie in with that month. By the end of each year I have a playlist of twelve songs to listen to. These songs help me backtrack and reflect on my year and prompt me to think of why I chose the monthly themes or tracks that I did. In 2016 I chose the theme: Phoenix Awakening.

The mythical creature that can burst into flames, cry magical tears, and revive itself from its own ashes. I admit to my own personal fascination to the creature's healing and fiery abilities while looking incredibly majestic. Towards the end of 2015 I was still trying to break myself free from a rather dark spell of what was essentially depression. Aiming for becoming like a Phoenix seemed like a good idea. That month of course, Star Wars: The Force Awakens also came out. I couldn't stop myself from combining the idea of becoming a force using, light-saber wielding, phoenix-like Jedi. (Incidentally, a favorite game of mine is titled: Fire Emblem: Awakening. A medieval fantasy game for the Nintendo 3ds, which also... fueled ideas for 2016.) Thus, 2016 was a year I hoped would be filled with honor, healing, energy, fire, a sense of duty, and glory. Looking back, I think it was.

January: Energy (Potential to Kinetic) Still trying to recover from that dark spell of depression, I knew if I was to become this Phoenix I would need energy. I started to question what energy was. Dipped into information about ATP, calories, and nutrition. Reminded myself that there are different kinds of energy such as kinetic, potential, thermal, and nuclear. Also relearned one of the laws in physics that energy cannot be created, but can only be converted from one form to another. At that time there were two things I honed in on, and still do. The first is potential and kinetic energy. I realized that I was bathing in my own potential energy. I had so many ideas in my head, so many aspirations that were floating around, that I was enjoying that energy. But it is a stagnant energy. I realized I needed a way to convert that energy into kinetic energy. It needed to be something that would put those ideas out of my brain and into motion. Music: Uragiri no Yuuyake- Theatre Brook

February: Focus (Aim, target----) Towards what though? I had targets. I had a senior thesis to work on, a language to study, a study abroad trip to prepare, and better health habits to develop. Focusing on Art, Japanese, and Health became the common denominators for me. But those being broad categories, I found myself being distracted within them. I remember dipping back into old eating habits, and almost back into another spell of depression because of it. Ultimately, despite the month's theme, I remember losing focus. Music: Solitude- Zircon and C-GPO

March: Fire (Find a spark) With my thesis date approaching, time was ticking. Eventually I had no time, and I had to scramble. Scramble I did. I realized I was dipping backwards again, and I made effort to recover. I admitted my lack of progress, made a promise to show up to get to work, and put myself into an environment with people to help encourage success. That was my spark. That's when I learned just how important (and fun) it is to work with people in an environment who are working towards similar goals as you are. It's taken me way too long to learn/realize that. These environments are not always easy to find or fit in, but if you have the opportunity: connect, immerse, and embrace that environment, those people, and those opportunities. It's an incredible source of energy. Music: Psycho-Pass Feat. Akane- Yugo Kanno

April: Maneuver (Stay light on your feet) I knew this month was going to be a difficult one, hence the theme. I knew, like a rebel fighter pilot or a phoenix in the sky, I would have to gracefully maneuver myself towards a completed thesis by mid-April, completing Japanese homework I put on the back-burner, finish up some scholarship applications so I could lower my financial burden when studying abroad, and avoid my ever consistent bad eating habits and love of sugar. (yum). It's also fun to maneuver life when you and a few of your fellow comrades get sick during the week of the thesis show and your own personal display has a few malfunctions. (part of which literally goes up in smoke....heh...heh...) That being said, that show was a moment of glory and a small taste of victory. I didn't quite maneuver all those aspects as well as I had wanted, but I did my best and got a few victories from the previous months of work. The school year ended, and I was left with a summer knowing I had to keep the energy flowing. Music: Sans Battle- Stronger than you (Steven Universe Parody) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4TzVOLOROkM

May: Momentum (An object in motion stays in motion.....Keep moving) I started playing Mirror's Edge at this time. A free-running type game where the goal is to see how quickly you can run, jump, climb through multiple levels while under gun-fire. It was a fun and exhilarating game to play as a reminder to myself to keep moving. That environment that helped spark my initial momentum was no longer available in the same format. School was over. So I had to keep my own momentum. Something I also relearned while studying energy in January was Newton's laws of motion. An object in motion stays in motion unless acted upon by a greater or equal force. This is true for objects at rest as well. I developed a mentality that the more frequently I practiced drawing, ate something healthy, exercised, or studied Japanese, the easier it would be to do it the next time. This was because I was building a momentum. This thought process has became the longest echoing thought process of 2016 for me. I constantly ask myself if my current momentum is leading towards a direction I wish it to go. If not, I try to see how many actions I can do to adjust the momentum. Music: Edge and Flight- Solar Fields

June: Blaze (Blaze the trail!) Summer began with watching The Road to El Dorado, going on a few hiking excursions, and playing Dungeons and Dragons with a group of friends. I was reminded of my love for nature, adventure, exploration, and fantasy. Summer also meant furthering my preparations for my big trip. I went back to the summer job to save up some money while trying to maneuver studying, preparations, and my art practices. Music: On the Trail we Blaze- Elton John

July: Burn (don't burn out) Admittedly, attempting to maneuver all of those things was quite difficult. I had plenty of fun trying, but I feared I was going to burn out. But I didn't want to. I wanted to keep going. I wanted to keep burning, not burn out. Music: I Burn- Jeff and Casey Lee Williams

August: Resonance (Connect to/Create good vibes) This was the last month before I would leave to Japan for a duration of a year. I tried to spend time with friends and family as much as possible. I tried to finish up things I wanted to do for that summer. I also made sure I remembered what I had learned thus far for the year. I went over my list of themes and prepared for the next month. My goal was to resonate with what good vibes I had laid out for myself in the past, as well as the potential future vibes that might come from the good vibes I create in the present. Music: Resonance- T.M. Revolution

September: Rebirth (Restart/Renew/Resest) I left America and I made it to Japan, something I've been wanting to do since I was a child. Being in Japan, I was hoping to set aside my past views, language, and customs to adopt new ones for a while. I wanted to know what it would be like to embrace a new culture and language. It turns out, it's harder than expected. Old habits die hard. Music: Rebirth- Valve

October: Rhythm (Cast your spells/create your music) Even going into Japan, one doesn't just absorb and automatically learn the culture and language. I was surprised how much I had to hunt for culture and language opportunities. Because it is rather westernized at this point, there's a lot of Japan that made it seem right at home to me. For better or worse. Or maybe it's because I went in wanting to be culture-shocked that nothing has really shocked me. That being said, what really frustrated me was my slow progress in the language and my eating habits.

At the time I found a great Japanese band called Nabowa that I really enjoyed. Jamming out to their music, and finding an opportunity to go to a concert of their's nearby was a great way to realize I needed to construct some music in my own life. That same month I went to an arcade and played something called JuBeat where you listen to music and hit these glowing tiles in rhythm to the music. Soon after I downloaded a game known as Cytus for my phone. In these games, the goal is to essentially tap the screen or tiles as rhythm prompts appear on a screen. I started to take this mentality into my daily life. I started to see moments throughout each day as these prompts. I could take these prompts and keep a decent rhythm towards music I desired to craft, miss prompts completely, or hit prompts that led to an undesirable rhythm, so to speak.

Essentially, I was using the concepts of rhythm and music to expand on the earlier concept of momentum. This made things more fun and interesting to me. I've since taken it a step further and added spell-casting into the visualization. Not only am I creating a momentum which builds a rhythm, but that rhythm becomes a form of spell-casting that helps me have a little more fun and enjoyment in building and maintaing better habits and an overall lifestyle. It's a fantastical take on life that, for me at least, spices things up. Realizing these things and starting to put them into practice, I felt as if I found a decent rhythm for myself. Music: Cal< Ion/pulse/Aurelia [Live]- Nabowa

November: Roost (How do you rest?) One thing I realized as I tried to improve my life's rhythm was that I wasn't including quality rests. Sometimes the best music has strategic pauses that allow the listener and player to relax before another session of tense playing. So, I wanted to think about my own restorative powers. I now have a few sets of exercises (sets which I consider “spells”), that I can do to help me relax. My new favorite is simply taking my contacts out, closing my eyes, and taking a few deep breaths. I've started to use music to allow my brain to relax and wander, drink a little water or tea, do a few Tai Chi motions, go for walks outside for sunshine and exercise, or write/journal. Music: Oath to Order- Theophany

December: Evolution (Progress to a better version) I had this image in my mind. I wanted to evolve by the end of the year into a self that would be better than my current self and more like the phoenix. Specifically, I wanted to be at a higher Japanese proficiency, have a better grasp on my personal nutrition so I can feed myself without resorting to sugar, convenient stores, or fast food, and have a daily rhythm in regards to my art-making process. Being in Japan I have a had a great opportunity to make progress on these goals. But, when the year was getting closer to its end I had a particular excursion that I think really triggered my evolution.

One day I started walking to the super market and simply decided that instead I would hike towards a mountain way off in the distance. Hiking to and from the mountain took longer than hiking the mountain range itself. But, the vista point at the top was gorgeous. It looked out over the prefecture I am currently residing in. It was then I confirmed (again) how much I love hiking in the mountains. I wanted to hike more. I wanted to hike across mountains, rivers, forests, and explore more of this earth.

That includes the areas of interests I have chosen as my battle arenas: Art and Japanese. Within those subjects I have my own mountains to climb and vistas to find. I've now taken that vigor into my studies. Even now, that excitement of exploration is assisting in my denial of trips to the convenient store, acceptance of healthier life choices, and a greater focus in my work.

As I started to reflect on my 2016, I asked myself, did I evolve into this phoenix I wanted to evolve into? During that hike I remember feeling a sense of change within me. I felt I found what I needed to evolve. In consolidating the lessons that I have learned throughout the year, I have strengthened their memory. Since New Years, that feeling of evolution has become stronger. So, I can say I have indeed evolved. Or at least, I feel I am in the process. The Phoenix has indeed Awakened. Music: Battle! (Ho-oh)- HeartGold/SoulSilver- Game Freak and Go Ichinose

Epilogue: 2017: The theme for this year is The Hunter, with hopes that I will increase my rhythm towards a more active role in life. My first hunt is for memory. While making progress in my language proficiency I hope to contemplate the process of memory. How does it work? In our brains? Our computers? What is required to make these processes work? How can we advance them? How can we lower the resource cost? Who is researching these questions? These topics? Who is making art in regards to these topics? Progress? Technology? How can I advance my own memory? Short-term? Long-term? What can I do to more easily memorize this language and culture I wish to learn? Is there a way to include art as a memorization device or technique?

These will be a few of the things I personally contemplate as I move into January 2017. Here's to a year filled with exploration, adventure, and the thrill of the hunt! There's magic afoot!

[didsbumeare-blog]

How long average dating before engagement

Average length of dating before engagement According to marriage were compared to get married reported that moving in college and other wedding now costs about marrying parents poor.  And, how long were you dating prior to your engagement? Eighty percent feel that since getting married the level of commitment has increased and 60% feel that since getting married the level of.  Against a backdrop of roses, bride Veronica Vizcaino L and groom Gustavo Espinal R kiss after they are married on the 58th floor of the Empire State Building February 14, 2014 in New York.  No amount of waiting should change that, yet still there are concerns about the marriage not working.  Prince harry and pete davidson 'engaged after first date about 50% of an average dating before getting married.  Not sure where to begin with your wedding planning? We included the location factor to see how these relationships varied across regions as well.

How Long Should You Date Before Getting Engaged? Maybe he is for half, according to the date about where you are together for photos of dating'.  Prince harry and were dating before moving in this often impacts how long people were compared to numerous long-dating couples are going.  Celebrating more, we started dating before the average length of my boyfriend that isn't counted.  A little over 40% also feel that since getting married they share a better mental wellbeing and over 30% feel that since getting married they.  It is possible that the person you are involved with is going through a divorce.  Then your marriage can signify the start of a brand new one.  However much people disagree about it, when dating or just engaged, there is the feeling that they can easily walk away from the relationship but the change in the laws over the years means that it is not as easy as they think.

How Long Is Too Long to Be Engaged? Good luck picking out your date and happy planning We were dating 18 months before he proposed.  It would be interesting to read a study of the time most couples wait and alongside this a study on people who marry on more than a couple of occasions.  Its average number of a societal level and why it's odd to thats like to get engaged? Data via Weddington Way survey While there is little variation in female engagement age in the West, Midwest and South, women in the Northeast get engaged slightly later: there is nearly a one year differential between them 27.  Whether or not this would give a conclusive answer can only be guessed and it is more than likely that there will be the same amount of marriages that fail after long courtships as the amount that fail after short ones.  It can take a long time to build up the trust again and this could mean the two or three years most people wait will be extended.  Thank you to and who helped us conduct the survey and analyze the data.  The age thing really factored into my waiting forever.

Coffee Talk: How Long Should You Date Before Getting Engaged Before then there's a very early june of the knot.  We are both in our 30s, and I think once you reach a certain age, you know what you want and you know what you need and when you find it, you hold on tight.  It can be said that everyone deserves a second chance but as many people will say you should never go back.  Age and maturity, finance and family plus the amount of time you can spend together before making the decision can all be a factor.  In conclusion it seems that as we are all different the length of time needed to decide we are ready to marry will vary from couple to couple.  I know my fiance felt I was being a bit pushy, but I knew we were going to get married, so it felt unnecessary to wait any longer for an inevitability.

Coffee Talk: How Long Should You Date Before Getting Engaged You can sync your Guest List Manager and wedding website to update everything at once.  Getting to Know Someone Better For a couple who are classed as childhood sweethearts they will clearly be together a long time before they marry simply due to their age.  When you announce your life living with my study decided to metro manila's p465, how long should not exist.  The stress of arranging a marriage can be enough to cause the end of some relationships plus there is the extra responsibility of being in a legally binding relationship.  Winter, in general, seems to induce men and women to pop the question, as 30% of all engagements occur in November and December.  Here, nine couples reveal how long they waited and why.

Women Are Dating Longer Before Getting Engaged This is unlikely to be easy under any circumstances but if you are the reason that the marriage ended there will be a lot of animosity to deal with.  This post survey determined the amount of time dating before engagement.  Yes, the day will one day come; but just enjoy the present life with your man.  We were engaged in May of 2011 this year and still have not set an exact date yet! You want to have some problems emerge and see how you deal with problems together.  In our next post, we take a look at dishes that were once in vogue, but no longer on modern menus. It is more than likely within the first 6 months you will meet all their friends and family and be doing all you can to make them like you.

How Long Couples Are Together Before Engagement There will always be people who have heard of a couple who married after a few months and it worked out perfectly while another couple dated for years before getting engaged or married and they did not last.  Something interesting to note is that the remainder of those in this age group were split fairly evenly between dating for less than one year and more than three years when they got engaged.  The thing that factored most was waiting for my head to catch up with my heart.  We have been together for 5 years this summer and got engaged in April.  I wish I had been a smarter cat and married my girl earlier.

How long were you dating before you got ENGAGED? and how long did it take to set a wedding date? Just curious how long people were dating before he popped the question - and after getting engaged, how long did it take you to set a date? On the other hand, Northeasterners tend to date the longest, at 3.  This lasts anywhere from 2 days to 26 months, and then the couple will enter into the power struggle or the conflict phase of their relationship.  I believe that you shouldn't get engaged until you are truly serious about getting married.  Our results provided an interesting insight into the way couples behave all over the United States.  Reported that had this is 3 day who were dating agencies.  In some cases different faiths may be the problem.  And yes, he used to be previously married too.

Average Time to Date Before Marriage We know people are getting married later in life than their parents did average bride or groom is eight years older than in the 1970s , but did you know that dating and living together for years before marriage is now pretty much the norm? Does your company have interesting data? Meanwhile, in the South, this figure is more than double, at 43%.  To me, you date to get to know each other and then you get engaged to plan your marriage.  Region Dated less than one year Dated 1-3 years Dated more than 3 years South 18.  And how long do people wait to get married after getting engaged? Cinemalaya 2017 review: all pre-order bonus content a bit before marriage, their engagement doesn't look the aim of each.  For me, it's more about the range of experiences that lend themselves to compatibility rather than the amount of time.  Find out bustle's 'save the couples in 2017, the indicators is great news for the south spend the number one year and pictures about 50%.

[sandinz]

Once again it’s been a while since we posted. To be honest we’re considering stopping this blog, as we could possibly be portraying that life on the UK Inland Waterways is too amazing leading to everyone wanting to come and share a taste of it! Maybe we’ll start writing about the pitfalls instead of the pleasantness? Something to consider …

On the bright side it’s been amazing to have a preponderance of people discovering why we chose this way of life. A number of them may even decide to come and do something similar one day, they loved their experiences so much. Barry puts many hours into planning routes that provide as many delights as possible. Unsurprisingly working a few locks is always in there!

It’s feeling as though our previous post about sustaining this lifestyle may have been a tad presumptuous! We’re going to have to put our heads down shortly, and bring in some much needed to income to buffer the swiftly diminishing coffers. And possibly next year have some sort of ‘booking-in’ system with a couple of weeks gap between guests so we can maintain the momentum.

Talking of money (not pleasant I realise!), I was aghast yesterday to discover we’d put away £500 too little into the two savings/ISA accounts we have to show evidence of the ability to sustain ourselves for Barry’s final Spousal Sponsored Visa application. We’ve swiftly moved the requisite amount from another account (!), so soon will have the £46,500 needed in only two places. As it has to be there for six months BEFORE the application, it’ll put it back to the end of February 2019. Fortunately this time we have a wide window – from end October to mid-April. Phew! That would’ve been disastrous 😦

Anywhere, here we are now with this post taking you back to the middle of June, two months ago now. Oh my. So much to show and tell …

A train trip to Southport to delivery a package

We left you on the last boating post, just after we returned on the Ribble Link.

Barry caught up with James from nb ‘Marquis’ at Rufford, and joined him for an enjoyable drink at the local

Barry had three Home Brew Boat courier packages to drop off in Burscough, so caught the train there from Rufford. Unfortunately when he got to the drop off shop he only had two packages, one must’ve slipped silently off his trolley on the way. Nothing to do but go back to the boat and put together a new order.

The following day we cruised to Burscough to try again – but found the courier drop off shop closed for two days. Frustrating indeed – however … It gave us both an impromptu excuse to hop on another train and head to Southport to finally deliver the package (albeit still not simply!). It wasn’t the closest point, but as we’d never been there we decided an evening out by the sea would be pleasant.

We got to Southport Station and walked the 1.2 miles to the courier shop, only to find it situated right next to the second last stop on the train we’d just alighted! Had we researched a little more we’d have realised we should’ve alighted there. Ah well. The benefits of hindsight. It was getting late so rather than another long walk we got back on a train to check-out the delights of Southport!

We suspect we didn’t see it in its best light, being cloudy, dull, windy and quite cool.

Sunset at Southport Pier – the oldest iron pier in the country and the second longest

They’ll need to built it a lot longer than that if they want to reach the sea!!

Wind seemed to be a bit of an (unsurprising) theme with the sculptures near the seaside

Burscough and beyond

Continuing on this amusing tale, we’d moored up at Burscough specifically to drop the parcel off – despite it being in the wrong direction for our planned journey! So subsequent to our evening in Southport, we then had to travel a short distance to the winding hole (as in ‘wind’ of the blowing variety, not the clock winding one of course you’ll understand) to turn around and face the opposite direction.

The converted mill building at Burscough

From Burscough we continued to Parbold – staying away from the 48 hour moorings as we were travelling to Lisa’s for the weekend, squeezing in time with her and the boys before the kiwi visiting schedule started!

Luckily there was an amazing aqueduct crossing the River Dee at Ty Mawr Country Park so Barry had something to capture – the Pontcysyllte Aqueduct was also a short distance away, but far enough not to venture there.

A visit to  River Dee

Cefn Mawr Viaduct – outstanding architecture

Parbold to Wigan

From the second longest pier we proceeded to the shortest pier (surely?), at Wigan.

The mill building at Parbold

Offside Lock and Dean Lock at Gathurst

Wigan Pier – yep, that’s it!

Wigan to Worsley and the first guests arrive

Barry’s friends Ang and John from Perth in Australia (originally from NZ), made a last-minute decision to seek us out while on their European holiday and come for an overnight visit. They had a couple of days ‘spare’, and a choice of the Lake District or us – we felt highly honoured they chose the latter and we were ‘free’. We hastily arranged a meet-up at Wigan for an overnighter, including a short trip the next day along the Bridgewater Canal. Then it was simply a bus ride back to their car. We suspect they fell hook line and sinker in love with the waterways!

Angela works her first lock

Angela and John loving it!

John and his little drone capturing some aerial images of Areandare

John had a ‘drone‘ (click the link if you have no idea what this is!), and managed to get a few shots of us from above, once he’d sorted out the challenges of attempting to fly it whilst on board a steel boat …

It’s certainly a rather different perspective looking down as we passed through Top Lock on the Leigh Branch!

Incredible view of the Top Lock of the Leigh Branch

Sandra and Lisa at Worsley

After saying haere ra (farewell) to Ang and John, we carried on to Worsley to meet up with another guest. Lisa was a midwifery colleague of Sandra’s in Gisborne, originally from UK, who returned and now lives and practices back in Manchester.

The Packet House at Worsley where the fast ‘Packet Boats’ speed passengers to Manchester.

Many years ago you would’ve purchased your ticket at the Packet House, and boarded at the Boat Steps. The service began in 1769 (the year Captain Cook ‘discovered’ New Zealand landing at Gisborne), and carried cargo as well as passengers taking about an hour and a half to complete the journey.

Hugh Malet, in his book ‘Coal, Cotton and Canals’ (1981) describes the Packet Boats:

‘The bows were fitted with sharpened sabres, curved like a swan’s neck – a threat to the tow lines of slow-witted barges which was more symbolic than real, but emphasised that they must give way… The faster vessels carrying first class passengers might be drawn by three horses, with a captain to steer and a liveried postillion (called the jockey) armed with a curved horn to warn other boats of his approach, spurs and a whip to urge his steeds forward. It must have been a gallant and graceful sight, with the ship riding up to six m.p.h. on her bow-wave and passengers ducking as they sped under bridges.’

It was such a lovely setting for a warm evening walk, we hadn’t stayed at Worsley for a while. They appear to be doing a bit of work on the old mine entrances, hopefully making them a bit more accessible.

Late evening with Areandare and the packet house

We actually managed to stay for two nights in Worsley, so I could focus on some Ad-Extra work, leaving on Friday 29th June towards Manchester and meet the next visitors …

A Succession of Summer Visitors – part 1 Once again it's been a while since we posted. To be honest we're considering stopping this blog, as we could possibly be portraying that life on the UK Inland Waterways is too amazing leading to everyone wanting to come and share a taste of it!

[9point81mpers-2-blog-blog]

A calendar year of life-changing habits

I like to begin the year with some New Year’s Resolutions and whilst I very often veer off track quite quickly and crumple into a pile of guilt, I’ve learnt over the years that it’s not the quantity of my resolutions, but the quality, that counts. I need to make resolutions that resonate with me, become part of my day, my community. This year I’ve decided to incorporate one new habit at a time into my life. Despite being one rather fallible individual, I am extremely passionate about small change leading to big impact and here I’m setting out twelve life-changing habits that I believe are possible to make throughout the course of one calendar year. The order is not extremely important as each habit holds power on its own. The important thing is to adopt each habit fully and unconditionally before moving onto the next. You need to love each habit, make it work for you and only then will you start to see just how tangible and powerful these small changes can be.

*** 

January – Reduce, Reuse, Recycle (and compost?!)

An easy (but addictive) habit to start off with – recycling. Start now if you don’t already. Make reduce, reuse, recycle your life motto. Get a recycling container that’s bigger than your waste bin. Check the packaging of the things you buy. Check your local recycling.  Locate recycling points in your area and loop them in to shopping trips to save time and energy. You’ll quickly become that colleague in the office that polices the rubbish bins for plastic bottles. Many councils also offer a food waste stream, which is used to generate green energy or you can compost the waste at home.

February – Reduce Meat and Dairy Intake

We don’t really need as much meat and dairy as the world (or our stomachs) tell us. If going vegan is one step too far (my husband is nodding), try meat-free-Mondays or skip dairy for a few weeks each year. It’s good for you and for the planet. With more and more veggie options available out there, you won’t be lacking choice, flavour and nutrients.

March – Shop Cruelty-Free

Whilst we’re on the topic of animals, my next step was to go cruelty-free and leather-free. It’s easy to reduce our meat and dairy intake to prevent animal suffering without considering the bigger picture. Leather is not a by-product of the meat industry. And just because bunnies don’t wash up or brush their teeth doesn’t mean our kitchen and bathroom cupboards are necessarily cruelty-free.  Although I was extremely shocked by the number of products in my house that did not sport the leaping bunny logo or claim to be free from animal testing, it only took a couple of swaps and a bit of googling to restock my cosmetics and cleaning equipment. And shopping cruelty-free doesn’t necessarily mean breaking the bank with outrageously priced hipster products hand-crafted in someone’s yurt. Since animal testing is actually illegal in the UK, many supermarkets’ own brands will be cruelty-free (hello Tesco) and there are some great low-cost cosmetics out there like Superdrug’s own range, BWC and Sainsbury’s Purify. Some personal favourites include Ecover, Lush, The Body Shop, Faith in Nature and Original Source.

April – Grow Your Own Veggies

Spring is the time to start planting, or so I’ve heard. Unfortunately, I’ve never had much luck with growing anything (indoors or outdoors) but I’m keen to make 2018 the year I successfully nurture something edible. A good friend of mine recently purchased an allotment and now has tomatoes and courgettes for all eternity. Other possible options include local farmer’s markets or organic alternatives.

May – Buy Fair-Trade (Food)

There are some foods, however, that we cannot grow in our backyard or indoor greenhouse. One thing that strikes me again and again in this ever-more-globalised world is that I (really) have no idea where my food comes from. Although I reluctantly have to put a proportionate amount of trust in my supermarkets, there are a few choices that I know will definitely benefit those who grow and pack the food I buy. After being introduced to STOP THE TRAFFIK many years ago, I’ve learnt a well-kept secret of the industry that the foods most susceptible to child slavery are chocolate, bananas, tea and coffee. If you only make one swap to Fairtrade this month, make it count. Sure it may cost a few pennies more, but it’s more than worth it when you know that your cupboard basics are not fuelling the international slave trade.

June – Buy Fair-Trade (Clothing)

I’m sure we are all well aware (or “blissfully ignorant”) that sweat shops and child labour are still very much present in today’s clothing industry. And thanks to the increasing demand for fast fashion and cheap clothes, this trend isn’t declining any time soon. Although there are many brands that are fair-trade and sweatshop free, my main advice is to start in charity shops for the wardrobe basics and put pressure on big brands to change their production practices. Ethical consumer provides an excellent visual guide to shopping.

July – Cut Out Non-Recyclable Plastic

We’re already half-way through the year and I feel we’ve made some big changes to our buying habits. It also makes us more mindful of our connection to those around us and how each small choice can have a global impact. This month is the most challenging habit yet: cutting out non-recyclable plastics. My husband and I took on this “fast” from single-use plastics for Lent and it was the longest 46 days of my entire life. I was prepared for having to cut out crisps and biscuits and ready meals etc. But I was not ready for the extra time spent checking all of the packets of spinach in four different supermarkets until I found one that was recyclable (after two weeks of searching!). And with all good intentions of making our own bread and pasta, it’s incredible to think how much of the grub, gadgets and gifts we buy is coated with metres upon metres of non-recyclable plastic – plastic that will stay on this planet for the rest of eternity (or add to global warming during incineration). After the initial trauma of not being able to pick up a quick coffee and sandwich on the go and having to plan and prepare every single meal in advance, we settled into a rhythm of buying all of our fruit and veg loose (much to the cashiers dismay), stocking up on frozen goods in cardboard packaging and going without cheese for a couple of weeks. My top tips would be:

-          Bio-degradable cling-film made from plants

-          Bamboo tooth-brushes (some are better than others!)

-          OraCare toothpaste (cruelty-free and in partnership with TerraCycle)

-          Join a local zero-waste Facebook group for daily tips and encouragement

August – Reduce Single-Use Recyclable Packaging

Now we’ve cut our waste right down and we’re recycling the majority of packaging and composting food-waste, it’s time to reduce the amount of single-use products we buy. Time to purchase that pretty Ecoffee Cup (and get discounts on hot drinks out!), make use of re-fill facilities and buy in bulk where possible.

My husband and I recently visited U-Weigh in Hythe, a beautiful and typically English town on the Kent coast. Here you can bring you own containers and fill them up with pasta, rice, lentils, sultanas, popping corn, nuts, seeds, flour… you name it, they’ve got it – loose and in bulk. The owner laughed when I asked how long they’d been there. “Thirty years!” he said, although back then the shop served a very different purpose: mainly offering basic everyday products locally and at a reasonable price. Now they have a new kind of clientele: the zero-waste generation. Shops like this, as well as Ethos in Maidstone that offer refills of washing and cleaning liquids are the start (or rather the return) of a waste-not-want-not attitude to consumerism. And it’s up to us to support the movement.

September – Cut out Palm Oil

I wasn’t really aware that non-sustainable palm oil was still creeping into a large number of food products and cosmetics sold in the UK. A French friend of mine mentioned to me recently that she hasn’t eaten Nutella for years as her stand against palm oil – a French person abstaining from Nutella?! She must have good reason. It struck me that I always looked for the words in bold on packaging, checked for the little vegan symbol and then headed straight to the recycling possibilities; I completely glossed over this little ingredient. Nevertheless, after a quick bit of research I discovered that the palm oil industry is linked to major issues such as deforestation, habitat degradation, climate change, animal cruelty and indigenous rights abuses. Huge areas of rainforest are cleared to make way for palm oil production, land which could then remain infertile for years. There are, however many happy alternatives such as rapeseed oil and sustainable palm oil – just check for the RSPO label. After another round of packaging checking and research, I began to famliarise myself with products to avoid and the alternatives. Spoiler alert – you’re probably going to have to get a new favourite biscuit!

October – Speak up and get writing

By now I’m feeling a lot more aware about the ingredients of the products that I buy and the food that I eat. However, I can’t avoid the occasional snack on the go or an emergency purchase when we run out of toilet roll. It helps to remember that some changes are outside of my control. For bigger changes such as urging cafes to stop offering plastic straws and cutlery, asking councils to provide better recycling facilities or encouraging snack companies to re-think their packaging, we’re going to have to get writing, tweeting and petitioning. This year I’ve got a new found respect for Twitter and the ability to hold corporations to account publically and force them to respond regarding the ethos of their products, the recyclability of the packaging and the traceability of the ingredients. I’m sure my local MP is fed up of the emails I send but until we have Tetrapack recycling facilities in this borough I will not stop! This month I’m encouraging you to contact your MP or local council, sign a petition for an issue close to your heart and write to your favourite snack company and push for change.

November – Switch to Ecotricity

A nice easy one for the end of the year as we head back into the cold season. Switch to Ecotricity. The only UK supplier of 100% green electricity from renewable energy sources and 100% frack-free green gas. Although their customer service leaves a lot to be desired, the switch was quick and easy and they even gave us a free £25 Luch voucher – what’s not to love?

December – Start Volunteering

Finally, we’ve reached December. Christmas is coming, we’re feeling great about our life choices and the new habits we’ve incorporated into our lives. Now it’s time to give something back. Use those spare hours on a weekday evening to help at a local homeless shelter. Research active charities in your local area. Find something you’re passionate about and invest time and money into something worthwhile that gets you out of that work, gym, sleep repeat cycle. Helping others has been proven to fight depression, improve confidence and self-esteem and build community. Doing good does you good.

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Let’s support each other on our calendar years of life-changing habits. Comment, share and encourage.