Rambling about Summer 2020

Fall is well and truly underway. The days are shorter, the temperatures are lower so the family already started heating the house. And ofcourse, the Summer 2020 anime season is ending. It’s a normal thing in life, seasons change, time passes. You have to look forward to what’s coming.

But as its often the case after each anime season, I can’t help but feel sad to see certain series go. But it’s not just anime series – every anime season has three months and it’s a decent amount of time. Obviously, real life is a thing in that time as well and the ending of each anime season often makes me reflect on the stuff I did in real life during that period. This is especially true after the Summer season, when usually the new academic year starts after a period without lectures. And that for me, will basically happen tomorrow.

So to “say goodbye” to the period of the last few months, I kinda just want to make a post reflecting on my summer. And I’m gonna do it through anime openings and endings, because I more often than not end up connecting them to real life events.

Fruits Basket 2 Ending 2 – Eden

I’ll start with ending 2 of Fruits Basket season 2. Around the time when this ending was first shown is basically when the summer started for me. On the 15th July, I managed to pass an important exam, which meant I had no more university worries until the start of year three. For the entirety of July, August and September I had no exams to study for. It was a beautiful feeling. The oral exam had tense moments, at one point I thought things won’t go my way. But fortunately it was a pass in the end. Right after that, my mother and I went to a seaside town for a few days. And to make things even more special, on that exact day, Spotify finally became available in Croatia. I had a lot of things to be excited and happy about that day and it was a beautiful feeling.

So why am I even linking this ending song? Because one of the first songs I listened to on Spotify was this one, and it reminds me of the great feelings from those days.

Fire Force 2 Ending – ID

This takes me back to those mentioned days as well, an evening spent watching Fire Force on the phone, in that house in the seaside town. (Why am I even calling it “seaside town”, why not just Rovinj since I mentioned it in an earlier post anyway?)

It’s basically just such a feel good song and video, not really the usual song I heard used in anime. I love how the lyrics say “raise your middle finger” and then Shinra launches his ultimate devil attack. The opening song has a similar feel good effect for me. Fire Force has brilliant music.

SAO Alicization: War of Underworld 2 Opening – ANIMA

On the way home from Rovinj aka the seaside town, I found a job offer that asked for some modifications to an existing web shop. I took the courage to apply, and basically started chatting with the client. I offered my services for not the highest prize but I felt like it was the best way to actually land a job. I know, bad mindset to offer myself for less than I deserve.

But in that instance it worked. You could say it was my first freelance web design job. The reason I’m mentioning this while linking the SAO Alicization WoU 2 opening is that, surprise – the sequence kinda reminds me of that time. I landed the job but it hasn’t started smoothly. Just things you could expect while working for people I guess. I was blamed for making the site miniature when it turns out the client just had to zoom in her Chrome for it to show up normally. But there was a lot of anxiety, also because this job required me to do a few phone calls, and I’m not the biggest fan of phone calls. What helped relieve the anxiety was this opening sequence.

Flip Flappers Ending – Flip Flap Flip Flap

What I talked about so far was basically part one of my summer. Part two would start at the time when I first saw this ending sequence.

Landing that website job was fine. I did the work, got the small fee I was supposed to get. It’s turning into a more long term relationship and more work for that client should start soon.

But I basically wanted more money. I set myself the goal of building a new PC, because let’s be honest, what I have right now is not really good enough anymore for the video work I want to do. The amount of time and nerves I could save if I just had a quicker, newer system…

I wanted more money but no one gave me the chance to earn more money. Attempts at online work were meaningless, or required too much for too little, sending emails to employers for “real life” jobs wasn’t doing anything. I grew more and more frustrated with the situation, to the point where I made a venting blog post that never went up and never should either.

Then, just as I stopped caring and worrying so much about jobs, just accepting life as it is and doing the best with the time that I have, I stumbled on to an offer and sent an email but just forgot about it, not really hoping for anything to come out of it.

Till the morning, I actually got called back and we arranged that I’d come work the next day. It was everything I needed, just when I needed it. The location was the city where I used to live, meaning I could come back to the old house and be again in the city which is what I prefer. It was an office job, basically data entry. Meaning a big contrast to the type of work I disliked but had to do (to help out dad’s farm). And being in that location meant I could be (relatively) alone, away from things that bother me at this place, albeit coming to the other location brought with it its own issues but we won’t get into that now…

Oh and I’d get more money.

I genuinely felt so happy. Things suddenly felt so good that I kept thinking to myself that I’m just so happy. I cherished those days – often reminding myself that it wasn’t gonna last forever so enjoy while you can.

I linked the Flip Flappers ending because I watched the anime just as that job happened and changed things for a while. I could easily also link the Princess Principal op or ed – I watched that during those days and it was a fantastic watch. The fact it was during those days made it even more special.

Nagi no Asukara Opening 2 – ebb and flow

At that time I also started Nagi no Asukara. I finished the first part of the series at that place. Then on the same day, things happened that made me go immediately back to the village. The job was already done a couple of days prior so I didn’t have to leave the job early, but it wasn’t the ideal way to end things…

Just as I came back to the village, I also finished the rest of Nagi no Asukara. Note the contrast in the tone and feel of the sequence in comparison to the first one. I’m making it sound like I’m having an awful time at the village and the house in the city is perfect… To say that wouldn’t do the justice to the situation but… It genuinely felt so good to be back to the city and I didn’t really feel the need to go back here to the village. So the different tone and feel of the Nagi no Asukara sequence was fitting maybe?

In any case ebb and flow is an amazing song. Another thing I could remember it for was walking around an empty town at half 7am while the sun was slowly rising.

Yeah about that, the same work place called me back for a few days but this time I didn’t return to the house for certain reasons I don’t feel like getting into. But it’s the same reason that earlier I had to go back to the village suddenly.

The present

And this kinda brings us to the present. The job is done again, I’ve been spending the recent days just… Not doing anything productive, more researching computers and components I will hopefully buy, and watching anime and even doing a mini return to gaming.

What is also worth mentioning is that I’ve now been blogging for 2 years. Not the biggest number of posts, this one is number 88. But I wanna say a big thank you to everyone who read at least one of those. I hope I brought you something positive with those posts. I really do appreciate any view, like or comment I received.

Another thing worth mentioning is that I now have over 200 finished items on anilist (not actively using MAL anymore). A month into starting the blog I just reached 100 finished items and now the number has doubled but the post I started writing for that occasion is still in the drafts… I’ll be looking to finally get that one finished some time soon.

All that’s left to say is – goodbye summer, it’s been an interesting one. Now looking forward to the fall that’s ahead. The anime season looks very very promising. And I’m entering year 3 of uni which should be enjoyable when it comes to the subjects.

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