Random Thread ~Usagi-Chan ☮ Tūsurī~

[Shoujo Q]

What is math rock? D:
Thanks! By the way.

I’m taking a small night course in Japanese and the teacher emailed us all to ask us why we were taking the class and what we liked about Japan. When I said music I wasn’t expecting them to reply back asking me what I liked so I was taken aback. And the question felt so open ended that as I was composing the email and realized I was in three paragraphs that I needed to stop and re evaluate the question because they are gonna think I’m a weirdo who is super obsessed when I’m actually not.

[erilaz]

I'll let Zunu answer the math rock question, since he brought it up (and I see that he's already done so in 6th Station).

For myself, I could summarize my answer as "music with female vocalists, especially in the pop, rock, alternative, and punk genres". This is also true for non-Japanese music.

There are exceptions, of course. One all-male Japanese band that comes to mind is the Blue Hearts. And for Western music, there are even more all-male bands in the mix, predominantly from the '60s and '70s: Beatles, Who, Pink Floyd, Roxy Music, Queen, Rush, etc.

I don't particularly care for Japanese metal (or metal in general), unless there's an idol element, e.g., BABYMETAL (in other words, "Kawaii Metal"). I'm also not really into more traditional styles of Japanese music, including enka, though I love J-pop that incorporates such elements; Odoru♡11's "Shiawase Kyouryuu Ondo" and Berryz' "Piriri to Yukou!" are prime examples. Idol pop with shamisen? Yes, please!

[Zunu]

I just want to add that I think three paragraphs of j-music at worst just marks you as a fangirl, but at best as a connoisseuse, and I think both are fairly well appreciated in Japanese culture, and not anything to be embarrassed about.

One of my closest friends is a Japanese teacher and I know she would appreciate your frank and detailed answer. She often sends questionnaires like that to her students. Why? Because it gives her an opportunity to find out in advance just how much knowledge they come to the table with, so perhaps she won't have to dumb down her presentation as much. And also, she occasionally uses such data in coming up with new ideas for a class. As luck would have it she's teaching a class on Japanese music this semester, and while she has her curriculum planned out, the specific interests of her students will inform her day to day conversation. Her knowing how much you already know would only enhance the level of instruction you receive.

Plus, even if it's weird, so what? Let your freak flag fly. Enryo sunna!

[Shoujo Q]

So, to give you an idea of what deal with on a daily basis. And why I get easily flustered when asked a simple question like that.

Everything I listen to is considering Chinese (doesn’t matter if it’s Japanese or Korean) music and I get very offended when someone mocks what I listen to by saying listen to that *insert nonsense Asian sounding words here* music. It made me become very self conscious over the years because of that. So I just learned to hide what I listen too.

Over that past year, mainly due to my new work environment and the fact I’m trying to limit headphone use, I have only just started to not give a flying crap what people think of what I listen to and will generally just blast whatever I’m currently listening to at work and ignore peoples opinions. But it’s been a long road for me to get to where I am. I still have moments where I’ll get triggered and switch to more traditional western style music. But overall I’m getting better with ignoring the haters.

I sent over a mix of a list to the teacher. It’s generally hard because I have such a wide range of music that isn’t Hello!Project. But to classify it into genres? Mind boggling. It’s like saying I like cake. What kind of cake? Yes!

[Zunu]

Hmm, yeah that can be difficult. But people like that are usually only showing their lack of imagination and sophistication. They can't even conceive of enjoying something outside of common experience. They have no inner benchmark to determine what's interesting, and can only rely on the crudest external benchmark, what's popular. I think there's a part of them that knows and fears they are missing out on something great, but rather than be courageous and take the plunge, they prefer to be content with "misery loves company." I'm stuck listening to boring crap, so you must be stuck as well.

You can relent and allow those people to impoverish your life, or you can "fight on!" and enrich their lives, even if they don't realize it right away, or ever. But sometimes a few people eventually come around, I've seen it happen. Look how quickly Kpop went from fringe dance music to top of the chart mainstream success. In any case, if people don't appreciate your eclecticism then it's really their loss. Even so, I get that dealing with little microaggresive snickers and rays of scorn might not be how you want to spend your day. Whatever works for you is good, there's no wrong answer to dilemmas like this.

[esm]

Made it to Burlington, VT, and it’s hellishly cold. Like I was walking around a ton in Boston when it was 15-20 degrees, but somehow it’s not like this.

It was 60 degrees yesterday around here though and I went up to Portland and it was great.

[TotallyUncool]

The scenery in Maine and Vermont must be beautiful right now!


Edit: I generally don't talk about my tastes in music these days, unless it's with someone who seems likely to at least recognize what I'm talking about and understand the concept. Which may just mean that I've fallen into that pretentious/annoying-hipster "I'm into things you never heard of and I'm sure you wouldn't understand anyway" attitude - except that I'm being such a b!tch that I'm not even saying it.

[Starra]

:w00t: Starra!! So glad you're doing well! I guess you're in one of the best protected parts of the world... Hmm...hmm...I'm looking at the age your twitter card says you are...and that is quite impossible!

There's Covid where I am now, but I'm being careful and not going out. Which is easy because I barely do anyway, lol.

Anyway, I swear this isn't why I'm around again (I'm not quite that shameless) but I've recently started trying to livestream. It's just me talking about H!P and nothing much else, but if anyone's interested, you can check out my channel here. Yes I'm a VTuber (I guess?) but I'm too autistic to emote in front of a camera so this is the best option for both me and the audience.

I've only ever had one viewer for my streams and I don't know if it's a bot or a real person but oh well lol. It's fun.

[Zunu]

Haha, it's delightful to hear your voice (again)! Kiwi inflected Japanese, my life is now complete!

One suggestion is to consider getting a pop filter (random example), which can greatly reduce the stalkery breathing sounds.

[Moh]

I'm trying to not post about my life so much on here, but I finally got my driver's permit yesterday. At the age of 27. Better late than never, I guess.
They give you an hour to answer 30 questions; I think I only took 10 minutes. Getting in 30 hours shouldn't be too big a problem, but I still have to wait 6 months before doing the road test.

I'm getting a surprising amount of things done this year! I've got an appointment set up with an orthopedic surgeon that's done 4 of my mom's back surgeries; I'm hoping he'll be able to at least try to help me figure out why my back hurts so much.
I have an appointment to get evaluated for a sleep study. I haven't used a CPAP for years (I know...) and need to get set back up on one cause I'm exhausted all the time.
My wonderful PCP diagnosed me with migraine last time I saw her; she put me on sumatriptan and it really helped a lot considering the migraine lasted almost a week!
I started seeing a local pain doctor, and he actually fills my stuff for 30 days and gives me refills on most things. He put me on ropinirole for RLS and I actually sleep slightly better now that I'm not constantly kicking.

Aside from all of that, I've been preparing for a trip to Portland next month. Naturally, I made sure everything I booked was refundable. :')