Life in Thoughts

Guess who's back?? Well, kind of. Truth is, I've been super busy the last few months, between planning an international trip, school, work, tax season, scholarship apps - basically, a lot has been going on. Quite a lot. I'm sure there's been blogworthy moments, but I just haven't taken the time to sit down and type out what I'm feeling. So, in trying to keep this blog very much one about my life - my interests, fears, dream and plans - I'm going to get more personal than I have before.

The truth is that at the moment, I don't know what in the world I am doing. Like, I am absolutely and completely lost. Why? Because I have lost any and all ambition. And I struggle everyday to try and find something - anything, that will keep me looking forward to the next hour, day, or year. I've been finding it harder and harder to really enjoy the little things in life. I suppose I'm falling into a routine and I'm doing everything possible not to do so. I don't want to fall into a routine without some sort of end goal in mind. And that's the root cause of it all - I need to find another dream to fulfill. But there's something always stopping me - usually money and adult responsibilities.

So, I'm going to take this blogpost to try and come up with some goals. You see, my two biggest dreams, as far back as I can remember were to 1. Visit Japan and 2. Finish College. Two years ago, I achieved these two goals but I had created new dreams: 1. Revisit Japan ad 2. Find a job I really love. Fast forward two years later and I will soon: 1. Revisit Japan and 2. Have a job I really love.

Manga Review: Yume Kira Dream Shoppe

When I was in high school, I remember picking up a copy of Shoujo Beat and reading a preview of a new manga titled, "Yume Kira Dream Shoppe." I really liked the preview and so set out to obtain a copy. However, none of the bookshops I visited had a copy and neither did the library. At the time, I didn't do much  online shopping (it was still fairly new) so eventually I simply pushed it to the back of my mind. However, I recently stumbled upon it on Goodreads and decided that it was high time I read this short one volume manga.

Rin is the owner of the Yume Kira Dream Shoppe where, "...any dream can be made true in exchange for something dear to you." The manga has typical shoujo elements, however, its main message is not "love at all costs" bur rather "hope" and in each of the four short stories presented in the volume, hope does indeed take the center stage.

In the end, the reader is left wondering, "Who is Rin?" Is she really just the owner of a mystical shop in the sky? A goddess (she does answer calls that start with, "Dear God")? Or maybe a personification of the determination that lies within us ("us" referring to both animate and inanimate objects) to change our own destinies? Or perhaps I'm overthinking it, haha, but I really did love the message in this manga. While the art style was not my favorite, it was still a very cute and short read. I'm definitely buying a personal copy (I checked it out from the library xD) as it's definitely now one of my personal favorites and a manga I'm sure I will be reading many more times :)