Where do you see yourself in 8 years?

[Whiteblaze]

I didn't post originally, but in retrospect I did do one thing that was my goal and that was gain experience in my area of work and do travel contract work. I almost gave up that goal because I at first struggled at my first job right out of school. I later got a the hang of things in another area and became seasoned at it even.

As for the next eight years. I must say something about turning 30 gives you some perspective. lol Not so much predictions, but things I hope will come to be or am aiming for:

I want to transition to a different field of work as my current area does not provide the work-life balance I desire. I want to slow down and take time to enjoy life more. Give time to things I haven't been able to do because of lack of said work-life balance. I would call these personal growth and exploration activities such as dance classes or piano lessons. Also get my finances in better order to finish paying off student loans.

I want to do international travel as that had not been enough of a priority apparently. I want to attend the concerts of artists I love who I have not seen yet like Daft Punk (They have only toured every ten years. >_<).

I still live in my family home and I finally feel more than ready to have my own space so that is definitely happening. As for marriage it would be awesome if it is the right person and for the right reason. I have always had this feeling of wanting to be a mother since I was young. Will have to see in the years to come if that is what I want. I think I still do, but I have some things I'd like to do before settling down with that kind of life long commitment. Mainly just enjoy life without children a little longer. ^_^

Edited August 11, 2020 by Whiteblaze

[Whiteblaze]

On 8/9/2020 at 6:01 PM, Japan said:

So it's check in time. It's been over eight years. Were your predictions true? 

I actually went the Healthcare route, getting my cna and working in in home health. Surprisingly I am married, a step mom and another baby on the way. I do have a car.... Second car actually. I upgraded. I also finally got to visit Japan in 2016. 

 

It's so strange knowing I'm going to be a stay at home mom soon too. 

Wonderful that you got to go to Japan! It is still on my list of places I really wish to visit! 

Note: Please forgive the double posting. I forgot to add my quoted response in the first post.

Edited August 11, 2020 by Whiteblaze

[James]

On 8/10/2020 at 9:01 AM, Japan said:

So it's check in time. It's been over eight years. Were your predictions true? 

I actually went the Healthcare route, getting my cna and working in in home health. Surprisingly I am married, a step mom and another baby on the way. I do have a car.... Second car actually. I upgraded. I also finally got to visit Japan in 2016. 

 

It's so strange knowing I'm going to be a stay at home mom soon too. 

It's cool that you made your way to Japan. What areas did you visit? Was it what you expected?

I went to Japan last year (well, end of 2018 through start of 2019). I went to NYE celebrations in Hiroshima, which was a ton of fun.

[Japan]

17 hours ago, James said:

It's cool that you made your way to Japan. What areas did you visit? Was it what you expected?

I went to Japan last year (well, end of 2018 through start of 2019). I went to NYE celebrations in Hiroshima, which was a ton of fun.

I stayed in chiba as that's where my friend lived that I visited. It was just a two week trip. From there I got to see: 

Narita shrine 

Asakusa

Tokyo skytree

Harajuku (cat Cafe here... Scottish folds dressed as vampires so cute!) 

Takeshita Street, the crossing  and Hachiko statue in shibuya.

Odaibya (gundam statue and gundam Cafe) 

Ikebukuro (looked up real life places in Durarara) 

Akihabara for gashapon store and ff15 cafe

DisneySea

Osaka for takoyaki on the street, universal studios japan

Kyoto for fushimi Inari shrine (we got stormed out so it was the only thing we got to do here but my Kyoto bucket list basically done) 

Went to a local playground, local onsen to try it out, mcdonalds and I forgot where but I hung around town while my friend went to her university for a university test. 

I was a little disappointed with Disney sea mainly cause my friend took me there with her boyfriend and I felt left out and third wheel. Fushimi Inari was exactly how I dreamed. Ikebukuro was sort of... Meh? I absolutely loved the rest though and the onsen was the most relaxing experience ever even though I was the only foreigner there. Mcdonalds portions are HUGE in America and I felt like I ate a kids meal. I should of known better to visit end of monsoon season (end of September early October) but the tickets were cheaper.... (thus the storm in Kyoto) I'm glad I went. Next time I want to do more history stuff and go to Disneyland. USJ was great! Japanese hogwarts was interesting and Hermione sounded like a mouse. But... The best part of the whole trip was the food. I learned to cook more Japanese food and I felt like I was in heaven. (it's hard and expensive to get good takoyaki at home so it was neat that I got to eat so much of it! On the way home, I flew into LAX. The flight home was way better than the flight there. I ended up sitting next to this rocker dude enthusiast who was going to Los Angeles or Vegas to see a big concert. We chatted in broken English and Japanese and it was a great time. I also got to see wolf children for the first time on my seat TV. I can't wait to go again. 

 

 

Edited August 12, 2020 by Japan

[James]

On 8/13/2020 at 5:20 AM, Japan said:

I stayed in chiba as that's where my friend lived that I visited. It was just a two week trip. From there I got to see: 

Narita shrine 

Asakusa

Tokyo skytree

Harajuku (cat Cafe here... Scottish folds dressed as vampires so cute!) 

Takeshita Street, the crossing  and Hachiko statue in shibuya.

Odaibya (gundam statue and gundam Cafe) 

Ikebukuro (looked up real life places in Durarara) 

Akihabara for gashapon store and ff15 cafe

DisneySea

Osaka for takoyaki on the street, universal studios japan

Kyoto for fushimi Inari shrine (we got stormed out so it was the only thing we got to do here but my Kyoto bucket list basically done) 

Went to a local playground, local onsen to try it out, mcdonalds and I forgot where but I hung around town while my friend went to her university for a university test. 

I was a little disappointed with Disney sea mainly cause my friend took me there with her boyfriend and I felt left out and third wheel. Fushimi Inari was exactly how I dreamed. Ikebukuro was sort of... Meh? I absolutely loved the rest though and the onsen was the most relaxing experience ever even though I was the only foreigner there. Mcdonalds portions are HUGE in America and I felt like I ate a kids meal. I should of known better to visit end of monsoon season (end of September early October) but the tickets were cheaper.... (thus the storm in Kyoto) I'm glad I went. Next time I want to do more history stuff and go to Disneyland. USJ was great! Japanese hogwarts was interesting and Hermione sounded like a mouse. But... The best part of the whole trip was the food. I learned to cook more Japanese food and I felt like I was in heaven. (it's hard and expensive to get good takoyaki at home so it was neat that I got to eat so much of it! On the way home, I flew into LAX. The flight home was way better than the flight there. I ended up sitting next to this rocker dude enthusiast who was going to Los Angeles or Vegas to see a big concert. We chatted in broken English and Japanese and it was a great time. I also got to see wolf children for the first time on my seat TV. I can't wait to go again. 

Nice one! Looks like you got the chance to do quite a lot.

I agree with you 100% about the food. My goodness. There's SO much great food everywhere you go! The best food I had was probably at a little Japanese curry place at Nara Station. It was really small and didn't look special from the outside, but when I went inside, there were a lot of awards hanging on the walls. The curry was so incredible - best I've ever had in my life. I still get cravings for it, haha.

Fortunately there's a lot of great Japanese food in Australia, as Japanese restaurants (often run by Japanese folks) are very common. But still, there's nothing quite like eating Japanese food in Japan. Mind you, the moment you stray from Japanese food over there it starts to get a bit iffy. Their western food is often a bit patchy, and I was surprised that their Chinese food is often not great (at least in my experience). Ironically, we also went to an Indian restaurant in Ginza (one of the very few I saw) and it was also one of the best Indian restaurants I've ever been to. I love Indian food... so that was a nice surprise.

You did quite a few things I didn't. For example, I didn't get the chance to go to the Fushimi Inari shrine...despite that being so famous! But I did go to Nijo Castle and Honmaru Palace as well as a few other historical places, all of which were stunning.

In terms of our journey, it kinda went like this:

• Arrived in Tokyo and stayed one night in Shibuya.
• Next morning (super early... ugh) took the Nozomi Shinkanzen to Hiroshima.
• Spent a good few days in Hiroshima and did NYE there (which was amazing).
• Took Nozomi from Hiroshima to Kyoto.
• Spent a few days in Kyoto and while we were there, we also visited Nara and Osaka (we only did one night in Osaka, I wish we'd done more).
• Went from Kyoto to Tokyo on Shinkanzen.
• Stayed in Ginza for about a week and explored around Tokyo from there.

We did a ton of stuff around Tokyo. The biggest highlight for me was the Studio Ghibli Museum in Mitaka. Words can't describe that place. Honestly, it brought me to tears at one point. It was beyond gorgeous.

Really lovely to hear about your trip - I am going to see if I can share some pictures here. I've gotta get 'em off my phone! ?

 

[Japan]

20 hours ago, James said:

Nice one! Looks like you got the chance to do quite a lot.

I agree with you 100% about the food. My goodness. There's SO much great food everywhere you go! The best food I had was probably at a little Japanese curry place at Nara Station. It was really small and didn't look special from the outside, but when I went inside, there were a lot of awards hanging on the walls. The curry was so incredible - best I've ever had in my life. I still get cravings for it, haha.

Fortunately there's a lot of great Japanese food in Australia, as Japanese restaurants (often run by Japanese folks) are very common. But still, there's nothing quite like eating Japanese food in Japan. Mind you, the moment you stray from Japanese food over there it starts to get a bit iffy. Their western food is often a bit patchy, and I was surprised that their Chinese food is often not great (at least in my experience). Ironically, we also went to an Indian restaurant in Ginza (one of the very few I saw) and it was also one of the best Indian restaurants I've ever been to. I love Indian food... so that was a nice surprise.

You did quite a few things I didn't. For example, I didn't get the chance to go to the Fushimi Inari shrine...despite that being so famous! But I did go to Nijo Castle and Honmaru Palace as well as a few other historical places, all of which were stunning.

In terms of our journey, it kinda went like this:

• Arrived in Tokyo and stayed one night in Shibuya.
• Next morning (super early... ugh) took the Nozomi Shinkanzen to Hiroshima.
• Spent a good few days in Hiroshima and did NYE there (which was amazing).
• Took Nozomi from Hiroshima to Kyoto.
• Spent a few days in Kyoto and while we were there, we also visited Nara and Osaka (we only did one night in Osaka, I wish we'd done more).
• Went from Kyoto to Tokyo on Shinkanzen.
• Stayed in Ginza for about a week and explored around Tokyo from there.

We did a ton of stuff around Tokyo. The biggest highlight for me was the Studio Ghibli Museum in Mitaka. Words can't describe that place. Honestly, it brought me to tears at one point. It was beyond gorgeous.

Really lovely to hear about your trip - I am going to see if I can share some pictures here. I've gotta get 'em off my phone! ?

 

I can't wait to see photos! I know about the food.... There's this Japanese Italian family restaurant I ate at a few times while there. (I also finally got to try okonomiyaki! Yay Ranma 1/2 dream realized!) I had this Japanese ish spaghetti with long skinny mushrooms? Which apparently is only native to Asia so I can't replicate here ? but it was oddly SO GOOD!!!)

Also unrelated this happened Wednesday 

[James]

On 8/22/2020 at 6:36 AM, Japan said:

I can't wait to see photos! I know about the food.... There's this Japanese Italian family restaurant I ate at a few times while there. (I also finally got to try okonomiyaki! Yay Ranma 1/2 dream realized!) I had this Japanese ish spaghetti with long skinny mushrooms? Which apparently is only native to Asia so I can't replicate here ? but it was oddly SO GOOD!!!)

Also unrelated this happened Wednesday 

Oh yes I saw this on Discord. Congratulations!! Such gorgeous photos. ?

[SaiyanPrincessX]

On 8/21/2020 at 4:36 PM, Japan said:

I can't wait to see photos! I know about the food.... There's this Japanese Italian family restaurant I ate at a few times while there. (I also finally got to try okonomiyaki! Yay Ranma 1/2 dream realized!) I had this Japanese ish spaghetti with long skinny mushrooms? Which apparently is only native to Asia so I can't replicate here ? but it was oddly SO GOOD!!!)

Also unrelated this happened Wednesday 

Whoa, well (late) congratulations! Although the little nugget will be 2 soon, hope all is well. 

 

I posted back in 2011 about where I'd see myself in 8 yrs and I guess I've accomplished some of what I wanted. Lol. I wanted a limit of two kid's, and I have twins that just turned 5. I'm still training, although it isn't everyday for three hrs a day, but I stay fit so that's a plus. In the next 8 yrs I'll be 44. Hopefully still training, raising my twins (who will be 13 then) to be good humans, and happy. Maybe toss in more travel and exploring as a family. Now that comment definitely ages me from the young version of myself back in 2000. I hope everyone is doing well.