happy new year! I woke up at 7 AM and 10 AM today after going to bed at 3 AM. I'm really happy that I was able to meet and talk more with lots of people in 2022, and I'm looking forward to having you around and doing more in 2023.
the evening of the 30th and morning of the 31st I dedicated to finally doing my furusato nozei contributions so that I can earn that ~1% of my paycheck in Grapes and also reward point kickbacks.
after the cut
- furusato nozei
- kouhaku
- universal studios japan
this year, off the top of my head, I contributed for pasta sauce, grapes, fuji cookies, grapes, oranges, snack cheese, oatmeal, grapes, salami, oatmeal, rice, rice again, and bagels. probably a few more foods as well - I prefer donating for a mix of like, "slightly nicer forms of foods I normally eat a lot" and "consumables that I wouldn't get normally".
after missing the opportunity to use camping tickets last year, I kind of am staying away from travel experiences, and "ordinary" consumables like toilet paper and tissue just don't excite me. the most popular electronics are all exercise equipment that seem doomed to be discarded after a while
anyway, midday on the 31st I spent up in Nara getting ratioed by deer. Nara is always a really photogenic place and I hope to upload more photos later - I found a new drink/sandwich chain called Drink Drank, as well as enjoying bubble waffles and fresh melonpan from mainstay shops. the deer, hills, temples, and sky were all in top condition, so I'm glad I went before new years (I assume in the new years it will be quite crowded).
I stopped back in the hotel room to charge up for a bit before going to the 26-hour Universal Studios Japan marathon (where they let you in the park at 7 PM on the 31st and let you stay with in/out privileges until 9 PM on the 1st). most food places closed early on NYE understandably, so I ended up eating takeout spajiro meat sauce spaghetti on the floor of the hotel room (there is uh... no real desk space here). spajiro only gives chopsticks for takeout. can't twirl spaghetti with these
kouhaku was on the TV and I ended up getting sucked into it for just a little, thanks to the block where they back-to-backed GOLDFINGER '99 (the famous Livin La Vida Loca cover), some weird interactive puzzle game where the dancers and stage effects revealed clues as to what to press on your remote, and an extremely surreal mashup of an enka song and a Nogizaka46 EDM remix of What Does The Fox Say. that kind of stuff you rarely see outside of Soundcloud.
ended up reaching USJ around 8:30 PM, reasoning that I probably am only good for a certain amount of hours of energy, so if I go a little late, it will just make surviving until 5:30 AM first train a little easier. seeing first sunrise from the park would be nice, but 7:00 AM was definitely too late for me.
ended up "not doing a lot", so to speak - walked around a lot and just sort of enjoyed the vibe more than going on rides. the sesame street kids zone is a great value on NYE Lock-In as it turns out, as nearly all the visitors are adults and so you can have a mild merry-to-round experience with little to no wait. I did check out the always-great Waterworld show (effectively a tokusatsu-esque Waterworld-themed performance) at 10:30, where they had a few fresh new years gags before the main show.
ringing in the new year itself was scheduled for 2350-0010 in the center of the park - as it turns out, this actually meant "about 9 and a half minutes of undirected club music (including some surprising hardstyle and trance bangers), 30 seconds of countdown with no guidance, then a 10 minute firework spectacular". I was definitely expecting something lit before and after the metaphorical ball drop but this was still entertaining. the fireworks made me think of watching viral twitter clips of a ffxiv fight I haven't reached where missiles just rain for a minute straight.
I managed to tap out of the park at 2 AM (with Super Nintendo Land taking up midnight to 2, effectively. I did not partake in the Red Koopa Shell Cheese And Spaghetti Calzone, but the hot apple tea was well-needed for my cold body) after finding out the trains were still running, and clocked out for the night by 3.
I haven't done a lot of preparing for 2023, but there's always things I want to do. I'm looking forward to doing them with everyone.