End of Line

And so, with all the pomp of a brass band in Princes Street gardens, I graduated.

The ceremony was as tedious as one might expect, and many have no doubt experienced, with applause obliged for every last graduate of the School of Literatures, Languages and Cultures. The dean seemed particularly tired of the whole thing, ours being his ninth this week. But it was well worth doing, for the closure of a whole four years of study at least. And at most, for many of my classmates, for the chance to get within five feet of Maggie Cheung.

Photographs taken, gowns returned and goodbyes exchanged, there was a reception down at the Japanese department in which I was dramatically reminded of how much sake affects me, followed by a nice trip to the pub with beloved Stephy and a dinner with the parents at Vittoria on George IV Bridge. Sleep came not long later, head still buzzing with the frantic activity of the day now behind me. It was all a bit much by the end, my poor body couldn't handle it. Maybe this'll qualify me for the role of "character of weak constitution", a role that turns up in every anime known to man.

I just want to say, these last four years have made me the man I am today, and that's something I can't take the credit for. I want to thank J4, you lovely lot, for sticking together so valiantly, and the staff as well, for putting up with me when I just didn't get it or insisted on making my example sentences zombie-themed. Thanks also to those at Doshisha who helped me along, even though I turned up to class hung over a couple of times, and for really pushing me to find my limits and stick at them. Level 3 Class 52, you rock as well. Thanks to everyone at AASoc and GEAS who gave me respite amidst a tumultuous final year, and an especially big thanks to Team Uberlask for forcing me out of my shell over the past four years. Many, many thanks to St Paul's and St Georges, without whom I'd no doubt have given up long ago, and to the student group, for giving me a place to talk. Thanks to Connor; thanks to Natasha; thanks to my parents; thanks to Andy; thanks to Stephy; thanks to God. I couldn't have done a thing if it weren't for each one of you.

Now, that's the soppy bit out of the way.

Where do things go from here? Well, today is my last free day for a few days, tomorrow afternoon sending me London-ward and, for a short while, away from Stephy. There I'll book into a hotel and sleep until early morning, when I'll train it to Brunel University for JET UK Orientation, two days of frantic note-taking and questioning, and more than likely a bit of sitting around and not knowing what to do with myself. No doubt much of what we'll hear we'll be hearing again in a few weeks in Kobe itself, when the city council does its own induction week. Tuesday afternoon it'll be back to Leicester, and back at long last to a PC that can run Portal 2. Oh, I cannot wait. Then it's nothing but packing, really, and gathering up as much energy as I can before the big move on July 30th.

Everyone is asking me the same question: Do you feel any different? Hopefully by broadcasting my answer on the world wide web you lot'll stop. No, I don't feel any different. I don't feel like a beautiful butterfly, emerging into daylight from the transformational embrace of a chrysalis. I don't feel like the end of an era has come, and things will never be the same again. I don't feel like not a student. Give it time, and maybe I will, but for now JET just feels a little too much like a second year (or several) abroad for it to really count as a life transition. I'm certainly not going to stop liking gunpla and Pokemon and start liking The Economist and mocha lattes just because a grey-haired man hit me on the head with a medieval bonnet. You hear me?

And on that note, video games.

It's been a week of up and down for Swan-gamerdom. Since returning from Leicester I've been smashing my way through the final few bosses of Final Fantasy III on the DS, and thoroughly enjoying myself. The final line-up is Dark Knight, Magus, Ninja and Devout, for those keeping track. But now that I've finally set my feet on the cold, hard floor of the Crystal Tower I've found myself at a nigh-unscalable wall.

Okay, people who care about plots skip the next paragraph, but I really have to get this stupid thing off my chest.

For you see, to complete the game I have to make my way through the Crystal Tower, which takes a while, knocking out enemies as I go, so I can reach some magic mirror thing at the top and get cursed. Then there's a lengthy (unskippable) cutscene where all the NPCs I've ever met decide to come help me out of my rut, and I can progress to the World of Darkness and fight Xande, the final boss. Or so I thought. Xande, it turns out, is not even an appetizer. He's the gum you chew on the way to the restaurant, spat aside before you even open the door. So one pointlessly easy fight later the real final boss turns up and kills me. Just, wipes me out. Another lengthy (unskippable) cutscene where some wizards bring me back to life and I'm ready to try again, but first I have to travel to the four corners of the World of Darkness and free the age-old Warriors of Darkness from their crystals, defeating four very powerful final-stage bosses and their infinite hordes along the way. Then, and only then, can I fight the final boss and have a chance of winning, but what a slim chance it is! I get pummeled into a thousand pieces and have to reload the game. Where from? The entrance to the Crystal. Flipping. Tower. All that hour's worth of work down the pan! Didn't SE think that maybe someone'd be so pathetic that they'd need a measly save point at some stage between the overworld and the final boss?! Because I'M that pathetic! It's just ridiculous, and has put me off playing for a good while.

Okay, guys, you can come back in now.

So instead I decided on finishing off Future Cop: LAPD, a beloved classic downloaded from the notorious Playstation Network. This stellar game is just what I needed for wearing away a bit of gamer fury: ridiculous violence and overpowered robots. Though it's harder than I remember it, I breezed through stages 1-5. Now it's 6, the penultimate level, and suddenly I've hit a snag. For you see, the level doesn't appear to want to play any sounds for me. Not a one. It's silent, in a way I don't remember the original being silent. Don't worry, you surely tell me, sound is only one facet of the Future Cop prism. But that's before you find that defeating the boss causes the game to crash. That's right, it crashes! I simply cannot complete this level, it's impossible! And after everything I did for you, LAPD...

Two down, my gamer's soul was in need of a bit of comforting. And when Steph and I decided to buy each other graduation presents in the form of Dragon Quest IX on the DS (which offers full co-op multiplayer from about hour three onwards) that's just what I got. We're not far yet, still scratching the surface of what the game is capable of, but so far I'm absolutely loving it. The fights come alive in ways FF3 couldn't even dream of, and there is a level of charm and friendliness that is rarely seen these days. The use of language to characterise people and places is especially impressive, and I have more than a few times found myself laughing out loud at some of the lines the townsfolk come out with. Add to that a polished class system and a nice system of levelling, and I think this could be the start of a beautiful friendship.

Bleach fumes from the bathroom are giving me a headache, so I'm just gonna hurry up and stop now. Any questions, send 'em in. Oh, and Steph and I will be off to see Transformers in a little while, so look forward to news from that.

Thanks for reading.