It’s been a long while, dear readers. You’ve probably noticed my absence and lack of activity with the events I had planned up for the blog, and noticeably, the lack of podcast episodes. “Just what has been going on?”, you might have wondered. I want to take a bit of time and talk a bit about that and what my future plans for Figuratively Speaking are. By doing so, I hope to be able to move forward to the good that the future hopefully has in store for me.
It’s no secret that I was working for Sekai Project for a while now. I did a variety of things for the company, but most notably, I was handling PR and social media stuff. Part of the reason why I’ve been so quiet over here is because I’ve been hard at work over at Sekai Project. I had a blast meeting and talking to a lot of VN fans and press folks; I loved hearing about their passion for games and their excitement for newer titles! It was a lot of fun to talk about recent happenings in the VN world with them, especially when it came to otome games.
At this year’s ACEN is the first real time where I had a chance to truly connect with otome game fans, and I was so ecstatic to be able to do so! As a fellow otome fan, to be able to contribute to the community means so very much to me, after all, I met a lot of amazing people through these games, and continue to do so now. To be able to try and add more games for us otome game fans to play, to be able to provide a voice for us was an absolute honor, as brief as it was…
Unfortunately, in the midst of the summer, I was laid off. It’s quite painful to move cross-country, which was expensive and bothersome because of the many hours of packing, not to mention hours of driving, to then have to move all the way back. Even though there were difficulties and I had an especially troublesome time where I lived, I learned a lot from my time at Sekai Project. I’m thankful for the opportunity I had and I’m thankful for all the skills I’ve learned through working for them. Best of luck to them in the future; they have some interesting titles lined up, and I hope they do them justice.
It was time for me to pack up all my stuff quickly for a second time to move back home. But I was faced with a very big problem: I wasn’t given enough money to be able to move back. Moving cross-country isn’t cheap, even if you rent a truck to drive yourself. I was at a loss as to what to do, so I started selling various of my possessions to see if I can manage to scrape enough cash to be able to go back home. Of course, no matter what I sold, it wasn’t enough… So I did something I never thought I’d have to do: ask for donations. I really dislike asking for donations; I’d rather sell stuff so people can get something cool in exchange for giving me cash, because that way, everyone wins, right? To my surprise, people started donating and leaving so many messages of love and support. I didn’t think people would donate much, but I kept getting Paypal and Ko-fi messages about donations. It surprised me so very much… and warm feelings of gratitude washed over me. I’m blessed to know people willing to help me out. As I kept thinking that, this happened:
My dear friends got together and opened up a GoFundMe campaign to raise money for me to get home safely. I was speechless. I cried for the longest time, not because I was sad, but because I was so moved that people would go through such lengths for me. I never expected something like this would happen. Haha, even now as I type this, it brings me to tears! My friends doing this, to the people that donated, to the people who couldn’t donate but left their message of support and shared the campaign… I’ll never EVER forget this moment. I’ll never forget the kindness that everyone gave me. The goal of $5k was reached and I was able to get home with everyone’s help. To be quite honest… without that help, I probably would be in trouble. I’m forever grateful to everyone who helped. Thank you all so very much.
The drive back home was more relaxing; we paced ourselves better and got to take in the sights from cross-country traveling the way we wanted to do so initially. Of course, my head was filled of thoughts of what could have been if I stayed or if I never bothered going in the first place. Then, as expected, I got very, very depressed. This is the second big part as to why I haven’t been doing anything with the blog or podcast; I was faced with severe depression and anxiety. I won’t bother writing about the details of that here, but it wasn’t good, folks. It’s still something I’m battling with right now, which is why I’m writing this at this very moment. I didn’t want anything to do with games for awhile, which prompted me to kinda have this momentary disconnect from them, including otome games. It didn’t last long, though. Am I doing okay? I’m doing the very best I can at this moment to be okay. And that’s better than not doing a damn thing. Are things okay? They’re not the best, I admit, but I am in a better living situation now with people that care a lot about me. I can bounce back from this with this sort of environment. It’s definitely going to take time, but as I’ve said to myself and many people before, there’s a time for everything.
I want to stress how important wrestling is to me and how it helped me get out of my funk bit by bit. During the time of me moving back and forth, several amazing shows happened that were mind-blowing and served to give me back that pep in my step as I finished moving procedures. Through wrestling, I met some pretty amazing people who I talk to every week about the latest wrestling happenings. Wrestling started out as just a thing for me to watch, but it became so much more than that now.
I’m sure there are some questions that need to be answered, so here we go:
“Are you going to continue playing and writing about otome games?”
Yes, of course! I still love otome games a whole lot, and my passion for them still remains. 💖 I just needed some time to disconnect and re-evaluate my situation and how to be proceed from here. I should’ve probably said something about that on here, but that’s not how things worked out.
The next few posts will be interviews I’ve had with Cybird and Shall We Date when I attended AX this year. Please look forward to it!
“What about the Otomania event? Are you going to finish that?”
Yes! I don’t like leaving things unfinished, so I will definitely complete that event. I will start it back up once hurricane Irma finishes passing through FL. This is also dependent on how long it takes me to have power back, since I’m expecting it to go out once Irma reaches our area tomorrow.
“Is the Tokimeki Radion podcast ever coming back?”
Yes! It was always meant to come back. We have new ideas and a new show format that will make for a better show! We can’t wait to share it with you all! More deets coming soon~ Also, I might start helping with a wrestling podcast soon too, so if you’re into wrestling, it might be something worth listening to!
“Have you thought about streaming?”
Have I ever! I’ve always wanted to stream, but I didn’t have the equipment. Now I finally do, so I have read up on how to get stuff set up properly to get going. I will mostly want to stream otome games, but I’ve been told that my reactions to games are pretty entertaining (?!) so I might do other games too. I made a Discord channel for when I finally get streaming, but it’s pretty bare bones atm as I set stuff up. Any tips on streaming are welcome; please leave a comment with any advice you may have! 🙏
“Are you going to appear at any more conventions or events this year?”
The last event I’ll be at is CEOtaku, so if you’re in the area, hit me up! I’d love to chat and hang out. 😄 Besides that one, I can’t make it out to any other event, unfortunately. I was wanting to go to AFest and AWA, but it now isn’t possible. Next year, I hope this will be a different story. I really like connecting with the community, so I hope to do so more next year!
Things have been very difficult to deal with, but I’m sure brighter and better times will come. If you’ve read this far, I thank you for it. It took a lot to finally be able to write out my thoughts. With this done, I can finally move on to the good stuff! The stuff you’ve been waiting for!
Until next time, goodbye and goodnight! 🤘
Figuratively Speaking 
It’s hard to hear everything that happened but I’m so glad it worked out. I completely understand you when it comes to anxiety and depression. We can’t ever be completely ok because it will come back, but we can deal with it. *hugs* I’ll always be here for you and I’m so glad we’re friends! Please know that you have people here who love you and that we’re rooting for you. Sorry for the rant haha. Glad you’re back safe girl ^^
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Thanks for reading this! Really appreciate it. ❤ *hug* I'm still working through this mess, but I'm glad to say that I'm in a better place than I was a few months ago.
I'm really grateful for yours and everyone's support. I can't wait to make fun stuff for everyone to enjoy! :3
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Not at all, Elly ^^ I’m glad you were able to talk about it. I was getting worried since I didn’t know all the details and didn’t want to pry.
I only wish i knew about it so I could’ve donated but I’m so glad it all worked out ^^
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