Oh Hello

[wrote_and_writ]

Well hello, friends. How's it going?

The last month or so has been a lot, so let's do a speedrun catch-up.

• I barely met my GYWO Goal for 2023 and did not sign up for 2024


• I went home for Christmas break and got super sick, thanks to ill niblings (unspecified respiratory track infection and PINKEYE). I still have a lingering cough, but it's clearing up.


• After some snafus on the job search, I went to the job fair in Hong Kong, which was STRESSFUL, and I came away with an offer.


• I accepted a job to teach middle school English at a school in Shanghai.


• I picked up my physical copy of Guardian when I was home and started reading it. I am entranced! It's so different from the show, but I'm really in love with the characters still. I might even slide back into fic for it.

So yeah! Big news is the job, which I will start in August. The school has a British curriculum, which will be new for me, but, I mean, there aren't that many ways to teach English, so it'll be fine.

I'm super happy that Guardian is going as well as it is. I've been trying to read Stars of Chaos for months, but the prose isn't great, or at least, it's not to my taste. I don't know if it's down to translation or if Priest's style changed, or if it's due to the genre. Whatever it is, something feels clunky. Also, since I don't have a visual shorthand for the characters the way I do for most of Guardian's cast, I'm having trouble keeping people straight. This is due mostly to being in something of a brain fog for months and months and not necessarily a fault of the novel. I'm not ready to give up on it, but it's going to take a back seat to other books.

So yeah. Big changes coming. The visa process is daunting, but the new school has a great HR department. I still have a whole semester here at Clown School to get through. Being sick and having this job fair right at the beginning of the semester, as well as changing classes in the middle school, have all thrown me off. I'm looking forward to the long Lunar New Year break to catch up on some sleep and cleaning, to take a few days to poke around Taipei, and to catch up on some school paperwork. My mom is coming to visit in March, which is also great.

Less great is that I'm getting socked by taxes since I'm not staying in Taiwan for the 6 month threshold this year, so money is extremely tight. But I'll make it through.

I hope you are all well. I tried to catch up on some posts, but it was too much to deal with, and I have GOT to finish some more grading. So I'll sign off for now.

Comments

[gekidasa]

This is… not critical exactly but about why I couldn’t get into the drama, so feel free to ignore or delete ❤️

Re: changes, I read the Guardian fan translation, and then when I went to watch the drama, the level of changes made me just not very interested in it and I dropped it pretty early. I like that Da Qing is a cat almost all the time. And Chu Shuzhi was different enough that he seems like an entirely different character, I just couldn’t… which is why I never did get into reading fic for him and Changcheng.

[wrote_and_writ]

I totally get it! If I had read this first, the changes in the drama would have been infuriating. I’m “lucky” in a way that Guardian was my first ever Chinese show. I had no expectations. I watched it shortly after it aired. I watched a lot of it without subtitles while I waited for subtitle translations when was living in Shenzhen because I could get it on my TV. So there’s a certain nostalgia that colors the fandom. I can’t really go back and watch the whole show because some parts are just so bad, no matter how good Zhu Yilong and Bai Yu are. They truly made the show for me. I came across gif sets on tumblr and was immediately hooked. It was my first fandom after a huge fannish drought as well. But the novel is soooo much better in terms of actual plot.

[gekidasa]

Yeah, if I watch first, I tend to not have this issue!

I didn't dislike Guardian, it just didn't interest me. CQL, on the other hand... I rage quit halfway through 😬😬

Sleuth of the Ming Dynasty I liked well enough... but I can't read fic for the main ship because it's almost all show-based and one character in particular is so different it just changes the dynamic to the point it's a different ship. For me, anyway.

[wrote_and_writ]

I've sort of gotten past this by seeing a text and a TV/film version as separate things. And if a show is vastly different from a text, it makes it easier for me to disregard so I can write fic lol.

But I get it. I get why people get angry at media and quit.

[gekidasa]

Also the issue with a show being wildly different and not liking it , is it will almost certainly become the most common accepted interpretation in fandom because watching tv is easier than reading a book, and that means I won't enjoy all those fics 😂

[wrote_and_writ]

Not being able to enjoy the fanworks is a real tragedy, honestly, especially if a lot of your enjoyment is online and in fan spaces.

[pauraque]

I was just thinking it had been a while since I'd seen a post from you! I'm glad you're feeling better and have a job lined up. I hope that makes it a bit easier to get through this last semester in a place you don't want to be.

[wrote_and_writ]

Thank you! 🥰 It definitely gives me something else to focus on. Idk how Clown School is going to function next year. Staff turnover is huge anyway, and by the beginning of this school year they weren’t able to replace everyone who left. When I counted up recently, I think half the total staff will be leaving at the end of the year, possibly more. The Ring Leader has apparently decided they can get by without filling a few positions. I feel a bit bad for the people who can’t leave for whatever reason (visa for a lot of people).

[clevermanka]

Congrats on the job! What a relief. Also that the new place has a good HR department--a rare blessing.

[wrote_and_writ]

For real! I'm super anxious about the process, but they are walking me through it pretty clearly, which helps.

[soricel]

Super congratulations on the new job! Shanghai--cool! I hope it's the beginning of lots of good things for you after what seems like a rough stretch.

[wrote_and_writ]

Thank you! I'm looking forward to the adventure.

[awanderingcoyote]

Yay on new job!! Congrats!!!!! 🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉

[wrote_and_writ]

Thank you!

[forestofglory]

Congrats on the new job!

[wrote_and_writ]

Thank you!!

[umadoshi]

I'm so glad about the new job! *hugs*

I picked up my physical copy of Guardian when I was home and started reading it. I am entranced!

<3 <3 <3 <3 <3

It's so good! (I'm so happy to see people enjoying it! ^_-)

[wrote_and_writ]

The second volume comes out right around my birthday, but after my mom leaves to come visit me so she can't bring it. So I texted my bestie yesterday and was like "can I please request this and have you mail it to me?" And she was like, "It's ordered. I'll send it as soon as I get it!" 🤣 Sure, I could get an ebook, but I want the physical copy!

[umadoshi]

Sure, I could get an ebook, but I want the physical copy!

The physical books are very satisfying!

[groundwiremantaray]

Congratulations on the new job!!

[wrote_and_writ]

Thank you! I'm excited!