swan_queen

IT'S OFFICIALLY THE MONTH OF MARCH!!! Time for some World's excitement PANIC AND ANXIETY AND FRENZY

Thank you for sharing this! I wasn't aware of these traditions before. I had been a little unsure of how I should quietly and peacefully celebrate this year, but you inispired me to make ozoni for the first time this morning, as I had a lot of ingredients on hand--after doing a little research on it, I love how it varies so much from region to region and it really took the pressure off that it had to be made a certain way. I ended up using a kombu dashi with a tiny bit of miso and added lotus root, daikon, carrots, negi, shiitake and enoki mushrooms, tofu, fish cake, rice cake, and some meat that I happened to have leftover to make it a little more hearty. Topped with bonito flakes and some kumquat peel (best citrus I could find to replace yuzu), and spring onion that I grew myself! So soothing, perfect for this cold winter's day. A lot more nutritious and relaxing than going hungover to some fast food joint after a night out I might do this every year now! Hope everyone had a happy and peaceful new year's! (Oops this turned out to be a longer post than I intended.... I get really excited about food )

Happy new year, everyone! Before the holidays I had been feeling burnt out, sort of listless and aimless and uncertain... but ever since watching Yuzu's program debuts last week I feel like I have been jolted awake almost, just in time for the new year. My area is currently in a COVID lockdown and it looks like we'll be working from home for the foreseeable future, at the very least for the next few months. Yuzu and the fact that he trained "alone" for the majority of 2020 has reminded me that instead of complaining or making excuses, I can actually use this time to my advantage and see it as an incredibly special opportunity to focus on myself within the walls of my home, that not being able to go out so much may actually be converted into something powerful and help me move towards fulfilling my own goals and reaching higher. Plus, I'm so lucky to be able to continue my work and studies in this environment and in these circumstances (e.g., on a computer, not having to worry about finding ice rinks and such, for example). If we think about it, how often do we get the chance to truly focus our energies towards something, undisturbed by the distractions of "normal" life? Of course I would much prefer the world be back to "normal," that would be the ideal, for the world to be happy and healthy again and for us to all spend time together. But these thoughts, which Yuzu has renewed in me, will at least keep me going as we enter 2021 and continue forging ahead.

So after all my frustrations with trying to get the livestreams of JNats to work and navigating FujiTV and other channel websites and everything, I impulsively started studying Japanese last night with exactly this attitude: I don't know why I only suddenly started now, it must have finally broke me.... Just finished hiragana, onto katakana..... Thanks a bunch Yuzu ....

Probably to make the ceremony easily accessible to the family and friends of all the graduates, who may not be able to celebrate together in person this year? I'm probably going to wait for footage too. Could be wrong but I highly doubt that there will be a "white wall" appearance. There will probably be a lot of speeches, and a LONG (like, hour long) list of names of the graduates read out loud before getting to him. And assuming the whole thing will be in Japanese, it could be hard for non-Japanese speakers to keep track of what is going on. Unless he is going to be specially introduced or is scheduled to make a speech (which we'd probably hear about ahead of time), it will be difficult to know when to expect to hear his name. I could see the university wanting to acknowledge him, but I could also see him declining a speaking opportunity as to not draw attention away from the other graduates. Hard to say. I could be totally wrong! Just my 2 cents.

I agree. Worlds were scheduled for March 16-22 in Montreal, and weren't officially cancelled until March 11, so I think it's extremely unlikely that he would have left Toronto before then (especially with Worlds so nearby this year). Even after cancellation, international travel to Japan would've been way riskier than just staying put in Canada, with no guarantee of when he'd be able to re-enter. Again, no evidence, but just my guess!

Hello! Just wanted to provide 2 motivating reminders to everyone during these strange and stressful times, in the form of wise Yuzu quotes: 1. "WEAKNESS IS STRENGTH" / Being weak means there is the potential to become strong / 弱さは強さ Yuzu's ankle injury sucked but let him figure out other, more effective ways to train and eventually led to the 2nd OGM. Maybe we are weak right now, but this means we have the chance to become stronger. Maybe the outbreak is exposing hidden gaps in the healthcare system and infrastructure that will now be improved because we're more aware. Maybe staying home means you have a little more time to rest your body and eventually become stronger again. I don't know, it will be different for everyone, but we can all try to see the potential in a dire situation to lift our spirits and drive us forward. 2. "EFFORT WILL LIE, BUT WILL NEVER BE IN VAIN" We may not be able to see the direct results of our efforts to contain the virus right now. It may feel like even though we are staying home, washing our hands, doing all the right things, the outbreak isn't slowing down. Or, maybe there are some projects you had to abandon and discontinue due to the current situation and you feel like all the work you dedicated before has been pointless. But these efforts have NOT been in vain. Maybe the outcome will be different from what you expected or take longer to surface, but it will have been worthwhile.

today i was gifted a lotte ghana clear file by a japanese auntie my first yuzu merch!! i feel like i’ve completed a true fanyu rite of passage. even with the language barrier we nerded out over past programs and costumes together. she told me her favorite program is LGC and we spent a while comparing photos of the white and purple costumes (and concluded that both were super cool) 😂

okay while i (slowly) get over my pure SHOCK i wonder if he did this because PW was his first SP since arriving in canada/ starting with brian?? it would be a nice tribute. it must be so satisfying for him to get to skate to old programs and to old music and just reminisce and enjoy without the pressure of competing

when i opened the video and saw the costume i was like omg it CaNNNN'TTTT be??!?!?!? but then the music started and IT WAS edit: not even when the music started. just from the opening pose. (but the music was good confirmation)

(Don’t know how this thread will go but anyways) One of the things I really admire about Yuzu (and I'm sure many others do as well), apart from his skating of course, is his way of thinking and how he approaches everything. Somehow, he’s able to take challenges and obstacles, and turn them into advantages for himself or at least see the positive aspects of a hard situation... like how his ankle injury helped him get better at image training, or kuyashii from a silver, or something like that. Sometimes when I find myself in a tough place or thinking negatively, I think about the types of things Yuzu might do or say. For example, earlier today I was getting really frustrated that I wasn’t able to finish all the things on my to-do list, and then I remembered that Yuzu once said that it’s always good to have goals. And I realized that, a to-do list is really just a list of small goals. And a goal is just that, after all—something you may or may not reach. Even if you don’t reach your goal right away, there is always the reassurance that you can learn from before and use that to try again tomorrow… and anyways, a goal is something you can only work towards, never away from. This was my WWYHD moment today…. what was yours?

(My post is really long but I haven't really been able to share this with anyone and I think this may be a good place for it. If you feel it would best fit elsewhere, please let me know.) I had no idea who Yuzuru Hanyu was until PyeongChang and had only started to follow skating a few weeks before the Olympics—the main reason I started was because it gave me something distracting and totally unrelated from my own life to look forward to. A few months prior, some things happened in my life and I was experiencing depression and anxiety in ways I had never experienced before. It wasn’t so severe to the point where I was in true danger, but I lived in constant fear of the future and there were moments when I just couldn’t see a way forward for myself. I felt like I had failed everyone who had given me so much support and most of all, I felt I had failed myself. Feeling this way was a shock to my system. I was about to graduate university so I thought everything was supposed to be exciting and special in my entry to the real world but this was far from the case. Many things I had always enjoyed lost nearly all meaning, but for some reason figure skating gave me something new to be excited about (I’m doing much better now and things are finally feeling normal again!) The significance of Yuzuru’s win didn’t sink in until I read more about him and his injury during the months preceding the Olympics. To be honest, at first I thought he was overrated, just someone with too many screaming fans—until I watched his Olympic gala skate. Notte Stellata transported me to a different world. It was so beautiful, effortless, graceful, ethereal, and touching, and he seemed so at peace. I knew nothing about jump types or anything, I just knew that it made me feel something when I thought I would never feel real emotion again. (Even now, whenever I feel a little down or discouraged, I'll just watch that video. Notte Stellata has even been my most-played song on Spotify this year) Yuzuru Hanyu saved me. I’m not saying watching him skate automatically fixed all my problems or anything, but at least he made things more bearable. He showed me that there is still hope and beauty in this life, and that with enough time, our struggles can become pure happiness and peace. His performances gave me hope that there was a future waiting for me, that everything should be done with purpose and with thought, that each moment should be given meaning and that life is better when we give it our own meaning. That passion and love still existed within me, and that I might also feel happy and peaceful someday. That having weaknesses is what makes us stronger. In fact, that’s one of my favorite quotes, “weakness is strength” (弱さは強さ) which he talked about in one of his post-Olympic interviews with Matsuoka Shuzo in reference to his ankle. Any time I’m in a difficult situation now, I think about 弱さは強さ and how this difficult situation could actually be something good, and what I can learn from it. So, without Yuzuru, I wouldn't have felt and learned all the things that I have. For a long time I didn’t bother to learn about the different types of jumps and the scoring system, because I only watched skating to appreciate the art and beauty. But I am slowly educating myself on the technical side, and followed the Grand Prix events for the first time this season. Sorry for such a long post… all of this is to say: thank you, Yuzuru!