(not so) short note

on monday, i bought a photo album, the type where you peel off the plastic layer and stick your photos onto a sticky base.

in the beginning, we took quite a few purikura (aka neoprint), and i’ve been searching for something to stick them in. my mum and friends have also sent me a fair bit of things, and i’ve kept all the nice stamps that they’ve used too, and hope to keep them somewhere safe.

so, the thought came upon me some days earlier to make a scrapbook of sorts. it’ll give me something to do, help me consolidate the various scraps of paper and ticket stubs etc that i’ve collected, and will work better than a blog to show others if i ever need or want to talk about some highlights of what i’ve done in japan.

i started taking out all the neoprints that i’ve taken, and somehow there dont seem to be as many as i thought i’ve taken. perhaps it’s because i’ve stuck them on various things, like on the edges of notebooks and my mirror, but looking at the, i’ve started thinking about what i’ll write in the short accompanying note, and it’s making me recollect what i’ve done and how things have changed in the year that has passed.

i’m starting to really look forward to working on this scrapbook. i was looking through some of my china pictures that i havent put up yet, and i want to develop them so much because they’re gorgeous. i think i will want to develop one photo, or include something related to each of the places that i’ve visited too, if possible. maybe it’ll make me feel better to lay out all the places i’ve visited before me, to remind myself that my time here hasnt really been wasted. either that, or the lack of places would make me want to make fuller use of my remaining time in japan.

finally - and i think i should add this into the preface to my scrapbook too- i’ll like to say that inevitably, some people will feature more in this book than others, and regardless of what the future may bring, i will not shy away from including them in it. after all, those experiences are what is my time in japan, and no matter what happens (perhaps especially if something does happen) i want to remind myself of the beautiful times that we’ve had. 何があっても、大切で、深い思い出を作ったから。絶対に忘れたくない。