it's been so long...

... I don't even know where to begin. a few days ago I passed a year of being here, and I can't be more amazed by how fast it has gone and how much has happened. I thought I wouldn't change much, but looking back at myself I just marvel and how different my life is now than it was when I got here; how differently I'm looking at things; and how much my goals and focus have changed in life.

my parents came and left, and it was a beautiful experience to have them here. a little bit strange, as I'd gone almost a year without them, and have pretty much gotten used to it... but it was really nice, most of the evenings I got to see them, had some lunches at times, and of course went to the Shrines and so on. having one's parents here really is a blessing :)

life has gotten quite busy over the last month or so... there's not so much free time available to just sit around and chill, which has become rather apparent looking at the infrequency of my blog posts. this also has led me to not have all that much time to post any useful stuff, but it's basically just random updates as to what's going on. I wish I could get back to the old days with that...

we'll see if I can be bothered continuing or if I'll just let this slowly fade out...