8 January 2023

The Reason for This Blog

Greetings, earthlings.

I know no one’s going to read this, but I am about to fulfil one of my lifelong dreams. Precisely one month from now, I will go to Japan for three months. To commemorate this occasion, I started a blog.

I actually surprised myself with this decision. I’m not one of those people who keep a journal (is there any adult that does?). I used to, until high school.

Moreover, I rarely write about myself. To me, writing is a means of exploring the unknown. Why would I write about something I already know?

Still, as a… writer, words help me to make sense of things. So, whenever something big happens to me – and it rarely does – I feel the need to write about it. I don’t turn it into a story I dream of sharing with the world; not because I’m embarrassed to, but because I doubt it’s interesting. Although lately I have broken that pattern and taken inspiration from some… memorable experiences. (Apparently people write about themselves because they lead an interesting life? Is that possible? Most days I’m home, writing and eating. Big portions of both.)

Long story short, I am about to have a whole new slew of experiences, because I am about to travel Japan. It’s taken me months to prepare for this, as I tend to do my fair share of homework before traveling. I’ve got an Excel spreadsheet the size of Japan, listing nearly every possible attraction; an army of vaccines in my system; and I’m frantically trying to brush up on my Japanese. (I’ve already survived my first phone call to Japan. Took me fifteen minutes to book a ferry!)

At the end of the day, I know that no matter how much I plan and envision this trip, unexpected things are bound to happen.

I realised that about myself a few months ago. I don’t think a single thing in my life has gone according to plan, so far. Apart from school, although this one doesn’t really count, because if you study hard, you will succeed. (My M.A. might’ve been a slight hiccup… but it was a creative program, so impossible to mark objectively…)

As someone who spends most of their waking time in their own imaginary world, I tend to come up with a million scenarios about how certain things in my life will go. I am almost always wrong.

The only thing I expect this trip to be is fun and full of firsts. It’s my first time traveling longer than 2 weeks, my first time out of Europe and the West… (Seychelles doesn’t count, it was a resort full of Western guests!​) The list goes on.

But the rest remains to be seen. I’m not going to even speculate about this trip, because I know I’ll be mistaken. The only fact I grasp is that if I spend three months traveling without writing, I will die.

So here goes.

First Stop

Tel Aviv -> Zurich -> Tokyo -> Sapporo.

First overseas vacation in nearly four and a half years. (Except those three days when I helped my sister move to Cyprus.)

Never been on a flight this long, let alone this many. Mother Nature, please forgive me.

Yes, I’m flying west to go east. Money can dictate a lot of things.

I’ll arrive just in time for the Sapporo Snow Festival. Haven’t seen snow in fifteen years.

First Order of Business

A name for this blog. Let’s see what I can come up with:

1. Kesem does Japan
2. Stranger in a strange land
3. Home away from home
4. Diary of a 27-year-old who has nothing going on for him and is about to turn 28, but also to fulfil his lifelong dream of travelling Japan
5. Wasting my time on Earth
6. Don’t read this
7. God, this turned grim
8. Fake it till you make it: my journey toward happiness
9. I’m okay. Kinda going through a rough patch, but it’ll pass. Or at least I hope so, because nothing in my life worked out the way I’d intended it to, and I’m surrounded by people living out their dreams, but I’m glad some people are happy
10. Seriously, don’t read this, I’m pretty much a failure and a disappointment, just ask my family

Okay, I might’ve gone overboard. But I must admit, there is something therapeutic about writing these thoughts down.

I’m not sure when the next time I write will be. I may have started this blog a bit too early. I’ll try to work my way around designing it for the time being.

In the meantime, I think I’ll go with option number four, just because I can still use it.