One year and counting

Let the dream begin is officially one year old now =) Now, the last promised entry: (yes, it's sappy)

Why did you choose "kawaranaikimochi" as your blog address? Where did it come from, and what does it mean?

Japanese:

Kawaranai mono nado nani hitotsu nakutemo
Kawaranai kimochi nakushita kunai

English:

Even without those permanent things in life
My unchanging feelings will never disappear

I named my blog "Let the dream begin" after my love for Phantom of the Opera; for the address of the blog, I needed something more original that hasn't been used before. After a few tries (my first few choices were rejected b/c someone already took those names), I decided to turn to my favorite anime and manga: Bleach, for inspiration. Anyone knows me also knows that I'm a huge Bleach fan; chances are that during second year, if you could see my computer screen, you'd occasionally see me reading the manga or watching the anime online instead of listening to lecture. It's such a good series; in fact, Bleach is so popular in Japan that a group of people turned the anime into a live musical called "Rock Bleach Musical." Many thought the idea of a Bleach musical was ridiculous, but hey, I love musicals. =) The song above, titled "Kawaranai Kimochi," was performed in the first "Rock Bleach Musical," which was so received that it was followed by five sequels, two of which aired this past spring. I think I'd just started watching the musicals around summer of 2007 (when this blog was created), and because I liked that one song so much, I decided to use it as my blog address.

"Kawaranai Kimochi" can be loosely translated from Japanese to English into "unchanging feelings" or "unchanging emotions," whichever you prefer. It is, first and foremost, a song about friendship. The line above said, "My unchanging feelings will never disappear," which to me is the perfect way of describing friends for life. Just as night turns into morning, friends enter and exit our lives, sometimes never to be seen again. Despite that, I believe that there are some friends who make such a great impact in our lives that even if we don't speak for months or years at a time, they will always be friends because of the memories we share. Another line from "Kawaranai Kimochi:"

These important memories, these important feelings
I don't want to lose them, no matter what my future holds

After this year, we'll all go our separate ways, and it's impossible to say when we'll meet again. Despite that, I still believe that as long as we hold the memories of our friends close to our hearts, then our feelings of friendship will never change. My feelings certainly haven't.