Hello Twisters! Not a whole ton to update you with, so I'll keep this short. We've been hard at work with school and our jobs, and we've got a break from school! A lovely week to rest before we go into the summer semester! How's work? Work is fun and good! Obviously we have a large increase in customers, as many tourists have come over to get vaccinated. Great for business, hard for loyalty, but you win some, you lose some. And, as it always is, new people from new places, new customers coming in, or the self-proclaimed "I've shopped here forever", you'll always get that one customer that makes your day REALLY interesting. How's school? SPECTACULAR! WOW! I just, ohmygosh, I just love school. I love my teachers, I love my classmates, I love learning Japanese, I. Love. It. All. I am so, so, SO excited to actually be in Japan and physically see everyone so I can not cry??? Yeah, that'd be great. We just finished our our first semester which was amazing and I'm so pumped up to head into the next semester! Anything else that's been happening? Not really? Just trying to get back into the swing of things. That's mostly it. With our wonky schedule, any extra curricular is hard to figure out, but eh, we're getting there. Well, thank you for reading the short life update! Hope you all are safe and doing well! Talk to you later, Twisters! Charisma
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Hello Twisters! It has been a minute, but that isn't unusual here at the blog. TO BE FAIR, a lot has been happening. A. LOT. So! Here are some frequently asked questions that'll be answered for you all! Are you in Japan? No, no we are not. The State of Emergency has ended, but the borders are still closed to foreign travelers. What's happening in Japan right now? Will you be going to school? A lot is happening, really! Japan is having their fourth wave of Covid-19 cases, the UK variant also being very prevalent there. They're still planning for the Olympics, but I've read that there is a possibility in reconsideration for the games. If you want to read more up on that, I highly recommend checking out NHK World-Japan for any updates. So since you're here, you're not doing that school, right? You'll look for an American school to go to? We will not be going to school in America. We will, however, be taking online through Akamonkai! This is amazing for many reasons! The main one is that we were homeschooled most of our lives, so that'll help us a lot! A fun fact is that it's at 1:20 pm. Japan time. So that means 12:20 am for us! Yes it does mean waking up at 11 pm and yes it does mean that our sleep will be destroyed and rebuilt. What will you be doing if you're taking online classes? Well, since our classes are at midnight, we've switched our schedule around entirely, including with work! We'll still be working, our hours have be adjusted so we get a decent amount of sleep! I heard you had a YouTube channel, where's that? Yes! We do have a YouTube channel! It's called Twisted Two and features a lot of random, but fun things we do! As shown on the top video, we were taste testing peeeeps :3 Any other projects that you're working on? Oh, so many! But I will keep them all a surprise to see if they actually get accomplished. They are, though, very impressive and will excite you all :) That should be all the questions! At least, all the ones I've remembered. If you have any question you want to ask, please comment! I'll be sure to respond! Thanks for reading, Twisters, and talk to you all later! See you next week! CharismaP.S. At midnight tonight, we'll be taking our first online lesson! We've already had orientation, so it'll be right into it on the first day!
We're heading closer and closer to the day of our departure, Twisters! Packing has been happening, and it really is the strangest thing. We've moved a lot before, but this time we will only be able to bring what we can carry in our hands and on our back. No boxes. No bins. No storage (though we have situated a total of three boxes to be stored). We're traveling with a total of two suitcases, and a personal item, which is our school backpacks. (On a very unrelated note, my backpack is an obnoxiously bright pink and I LOVE it! You'll probably see it when we take photos on our Instagram: @twistedtwoofficial) It isn't a whole lot, but we'll definitely be able to pack the essentials! And a bunch of deodorant. Apparently Japanese deodorant doesn't work with our bodies, since they sweat differently, so we've got to hoard that. There's not a whole ton else to update you Twisters on. Thank you for coming around to read and watch! Hope you all stay safe and see you next week! Catch ya later, Twisters! CharismaHi Twisters! So sorry for disappearing again. I don't really have the best reason to offer you other than that BIANCA was supposed to WRITE SOMETHING! But, we've figured out a new system and she won't be writing anymore blog posts for a while. She WILL, however, be making our vlogs! Yup, you heard that right! She's going to be covering our daily life in the form of videos on our YouTube channel: Twisted Two. I'm very excited for what she's going to make and how those are going to turn out, and I hope you Twisters are excited as well! Back to the title at hand, we're so close to going to Japan! We've already been accepted into our school, we've got our tickets, we've reserved our hotel, we've got our suitcases, etc. Definitely we've got more to do, but every step is one step closer! We're actually headed out of the country on March 13th and we'll arrive in Japan the 14th. After that, we'll do our required quarantine for 14 days, then we'll move into our dorms afterwards. After the move in, we'll start school! You know when you're achieving something you only had as a dream and it's actually coming to life? Those imaginations sessions are actually physically happening? Well, that's 100% the high that I'm riding right now. It's honestly so electrifying! Once you're successful in one endeavor, you learn the traits, understand the steps and repeat it until you continue this pattern of success. Japan is literally right around the corner for us and we couldn't be more excited! We'll keep you updated on everything that's happening! If you want to help us, please consider donating to our GoFundMe! See you soon, Twisters! CharismaHello Twisters~Bianca here. Remember how two weeks ago my focus hasn't been top notch? Yeah, it definitely has seemed to be in a standstill. When I'm watching a show? 10 out of 10, it seems that I've got 20/20 vision with that stuff. My brain is on POINT. But with regular and important stuff? My brain skipped a heartbeat and a town because it apparently isn't working. So as I was looking at previous (and unpublished) blog posts that have never seen the light of day, I laughed with tears. I had a Miraculous Ladybug blog post where I was going to scream about Hawk Moth (probably still will). Charisma even did a full-blown post about 90's anime that she hasn't posted (but it's been in the works since 2018 ... I'm going to ask her to publish that one). Another one is about Japanese Sign Language, which I absolutely love and I will definitely talk about that in the future. But that's been about it. Life has been a roller coaster (of enjoyment, I have been thoroughly enjoying my time) and I have been able to do a lot more than I thought I could (like crochet), so I'm really grateful for that. And that's all about me :) Anything new happening with you? Stay Safe, Stay Home and Until Next Time My Friends... AdieuHello again, Twisters! Sorry it's been a bit since we've updated. Though it's nothing new, us disappearing and not updating, it's not something good. We honestly do say, "Oh, you need to update the blog this week...", but it never ends up happening. As bloggers trying to collect an audience, I believe it's important to try and be consistent. Sure, missing a week isn't terrible, but whole months without a word? That's not the best. But anyways! On to more enjoyable conversations! With our last post, we were working on the comic. We had plans on getting it out that month, but that never happened. We are still working on it, but we've decided to get a few pages finished before we start publishing it. Hopefully we can get it out before the year is over! We're using a (lovely) program called Clip Studio Paint. I didn't buy it, but I got a Wacom Intuos and it had the application already attached. (I'm still working it out to see if I have to pay for it in the future, but for right now, it's free.) I've played around with the application to generally understand how the basic functions work. While on the other hand, Bianca does not. She's tasked with doing backgrounds (as I suck at them), but she struggling with how to do them, what's the best way for her, how to use the tablet, etc. It's a slow journey, but we'll get there! Around the time we were trying to push this out, we weren't working. We had been accepted at our jobs, but they hadn't scheduled us in yet. Now, we're scheduled in, working two part-time jobs, so we have to juggle that and making the comic. It's not the easiest, but it's definitely not the hardest thing to do. We made it so that each job has their own separate times to schedule us, so overlapping jobs isn't a big concern. They schedule us at most four to six hour shifts, which is quite nice and the people we work with our amazing. Every time we work is a fun time! It's quite nice getting jobs that are fun with nice co-workers! I've heard lots of stories where people say their fist job was terrible, or another job had a terrible boss and co-workers, or another job was amazing and the people were amazing, but this one high up person just made it horrendous for everyone, etc. And sure, there is always going to be that one person who isn't fun to work with, but I haven't had those experiences. My first job at Chick-fil-A was amazing, loved it and would gladly recommend it to anyone. My two current jobs are also amazing! I love my bosses and co-workers, we're all here to do our best and make sure we're all working as a team. You can't go into a job with the mindset of "I'm here to work, get money, then leave." No. That's not how it works. You can definitely use money as a motivator because we all need money, but you can't put the bear minimum in your work. At all. That's what's going to get you scheduled low hours or get you fired. You have to go in wanting to do your best. Show it off to your co-workers and boss, but not rub it in their faces that your amazing. You want to feel as if you're being rewarded with the money that you're earning. Try to make it as one of the happiest jobs in the world. You are not there just to earn money. You're there to better yourself, grow your capabilities, your understanding, your knowledge. Grow as a team with others also willing to put their best in their work. And, you know, eventually get that well earned money. Anyways, I have a lot to say on jobs and how you should be working a job that makes you happy. Hopefully that becomes a blog post in and of itself, because this one is getting kind of long. But last topic! You all know that Bianca and I are learning Japanese and that we've set our sights on going to Japan. Well, after years and years of wishing and dreaming, it's finally going to become reality! We're super, super pumped to share with you all that we're going to be going to Japan! I'll probably do a complete blog post dedicated to all the information and planning that's going to be happening. In short, since we haven't finished learning Japanese, we've decided to go study abroad to learn it in Japan for three months. We're using a site (that will be in the dedicated Japan post) that shows a list of Japanese schools. We're going to be applying for one hopefully by Wednesday. That's the plan, at least. Also, Twisters! Next Monday is going to be a special update, because it'll be our blog's anniversary! We'll have been making blog posts for a total of six years! Which is honestly mind blowing. We were eleven when we started this and now we're seventeen and still rolling. It doesn't feel like it's been that long, but time seems to be flying anyways. Thanks for sticking with me for this super long post, Twisters! It's actually a really quick life update, but we'll get back into the swing of things. Catch ya later, Twisters! Charisma No Twisters. We did not get a guest blogger (even though we do need one of those sometime).
I was going through my long, long, LONG list of bookmarks when I stumbled upon Koichi's blog post. (Okay Twisters. We're going to spiral out for a minute. But I don't think you all realize what I mean by "long". I could literally make a YouTube series of me going through my bookmarks and it be more than 5 videos because that's how many bookmarks I have. It would be a good time. Me and Bianca, just chattin' away at how bad I am with bookmarking things... Anyways! Back to the post.) Koichi's post was titled "Why You Didn't Get the Job". I had read this previously, but now that I actually have a job and such, I wanted to see how much it would help me when I change to a different job. And boy. Is that advice in there valuable. First, go ahead and take a minute to read it. Here, I'll give you the link again: "Why You Didn't Get the Job" I'll sit here and wait until you've read it. *Leans back in a rocking chair and opens up a manga* Take your time, I'll be here. Don't worry. *Slowly flips the pages* Doo do do dooo... *Looks up* Oh! You're finished already? Okay then! We'll start off! So, if you had read the post, then you know that Koichi was talking specifically about the Tofugu Internships that were going on. But in all honesty, all of what he said applies to any job. ANY of them. There are a few more things that could be added to his list, but what he's covered is pretty spot on. I'm going to touch on a few that I believe are the most important from his list and that need to be reiterated. Don't Compete. And like what he said, "Stand out and don't do something people have already done. Do something original." Now, if that were me reading it, I would be stumped and confused. How and where was I supposed to go and find something "original" to do? Well, we're going to use the Tofugu Internship as an example. In short, Tofugu specializes in giving accurate/detailed insights on Japan, its culture and its language. So, what's something original that you could do? Well, if you live in America, then you could participate in the National Association of Japan-America Societies where, if you're chosen, you can become an ambassador representing America in Japan. That's a pretty hefty thing to go up against if you had that on your application. Not only would those at Tofugu see that you've been to Japan, but they would see that you went to Japan as an ambassador. Now, if that's too daunting of a task (like it would be for me, haha), then go and do things where you would be exposed to Japanese related things. You could help out at a Japanese-speaking school (they do exist, you just have to look, Bianca and I had a hard time locating them), help a Japanese teacher, be a Japanese tutor, something! But you HAVE TO put yourself out there. You have to leave your comfort zone and try something new. Trust me, it pays out in the long run. It's difficult and hard a lot of the time, but the experience and knowledge that you'll gain is tremendous. So every second is worth it. You Didn't Know the Company. Okay. If you're applying for a job, the people want to see that you've actually gone out of your way to see what they are all about. And it would greatly benefit you to know what they do, when they started, their views and opinions, etc. Sure the opinions part will change with the people working there, but if you know what the company stands for, then you can back that up. The last one we're going to touch on is You Didn't Put Effort in the Project. People. We are here to impress. In order to impress, you have to put your complete effort plus another half. If you really want that job, you'll work for it! Especially if it's your dream job. If this is a job that you really, really want, then work your butt off for it! What do you think your going to be doing in your actual job anyways? Just lazing around? No! You're going to be working your butt off, but doing something that you love. Like I said, if you want it, put effort into it. Now, I completely understand if it gets tough.. My mom is in college taking courses to be a doctor! Learning all this science and math is crazy difficult. There are times when she wants to give up. I know this because she's told me. There are also times when she's cried. I also know this because she's told me. But you know what? She hasn't stopped. No, she's kept on going and hustling through because she knows this is what she needs to be doing, no matter what it takes. So she's putting her all. Every. Single. Bit. She's putting that in. MOST IMPORTANTLY! Even though this wasn't on Koichi's list, it's still important. Don't take rejection like it's the end of the world. Sure, you might not have gotten into your dream job. Sure, you might have worked your all for that job. But what's most important is that you got that experience. Oo, that didn't sound as epic as I had wanted it to. Let me rephrase. When you worked your all, when you went out of your comfort zone and did new things, all that adds up to experience that you can now put on you "Achievements" list. Not only have you gone and developed yourself to be so much more awesome than you already were, but you now have that experience to go and try out for a different, maybe even better job! Keep going! Paradise is always in reach. Anyways, that's all I got for you today! Catch ya later Twisters! You are all going to read a SUPER OLD blog post that I never posted. Which is really funny because it was complete and everything, so I really have NO idea why I didn't post it. Original date the post was created: May 4th, 2017 Hey Twisters! Long time no see, huh? Sorry about that. I know I said that we were (hopefully) going to post weekly, but school happened, then when we were available we either procrastinated (MAINLY LOOKING AT ME /// HAHAHAH), remembered, but then later forgot (ALSO ME), or other excuses that I can't quite remember. (As I write this, I think of all the times I was watching Netflix shows - by the way, more show and movie reviews will be coming soon!!) But we're (mostly me) are back now! And ho Ho HO! do I have something truly special! A RAFFL- no. Just kidding. We're not doing a raffle. We have nothing to give right now, but depending on how much traffic our blog gets in the future, we'll think about it. *coughs* On to the actual post!!! In March/April (and some that's continued into May!), sakura's, also known as cherry blossoms, are blooming! If I'm correct, then the sakura's are still blessing Japan with their mystical beauty. Two weeks ago, I read an article by Joe, who is a staff writer at Japan Times, on how Tomika, a town in the Fukushima Prefecture, had cherry blossoms blooming. This is amazing, since Tomika was a place where the events of March 11th, 2011 really hit. I refreshed my memory on the happenings of that time on Britannica and in short, there was a huge earthquake, the most powerful one to have hit Japan, which caused multiple tsunami's to appear. Those tsunami's devestated some nuclear power plants in Fukushima which then exploded, causing the residents there to leave because of the toxic chemicals that started to disperse. But during this sakura season, Tomika has been re-opened to the public, after lots of diligent and hard work to clean up the damage that those events had created. This is, as the post said, is perfect because in Japan, spring represents a time of renewal and new beginnings, which is something that is truly happening in Tomika. There are still some parts of Tomika that the government has deemed unsafe for visitors, so those locations are blockaded to the public. The areas that are safe, which is a lot from what I could see/read, people are going to see 1) the beautiful tunnel of cherry blossoms that Tomika is blessed with and 2) the rebuilding efforts. If you want to check out the blog post, here is the link: Tomika: Full Bloom - Japan-Guide Have a great day, Twisters!! P.S. Hopefully, we'll stick to the weekly blog posts, but if you don't hear from us for a while, we're probably focusing on finals. For those of you who are also doing finals, good luck! HHAHAAA, LIKE THAT HAPPENED FOR THE BLOG!!! But now we have an actual schedule! ;3
Happy New Years, Twisters! It's a new year and that means new goals and a whole lot of new opportunities~ This past year, I regret doing so little regarding everything I did. School, I could have put a whole lot more effort into that, my Japanese class, I could have had a higher grade than my 96%, and I could have used my Bujo a lot more. Also, I regret not posting on the blog when I had the chance. I spent so much of my free time on YouTube or on Instagram that I didn't even have the decency to say, "Just A Quick Update!". That is why, this year, I'm going to change a WHOLE lot in my life. My Goals:
And those are my resolutions! I'm so ready for this year. I feel as though it's going to be a great year and I really think that my goals are actually achievable. What are your goals for 2018? Tell us in the comments below! School, for me anyway, starts August 17th. Unbelievable right? We've had 3-ish months of summer and, to be honest, I am so glad to be going back to school. I've missed it really badly. Why did I miss it? Because I wanted to be busy, I wanted to keep myself occupied and when someone gives you no chose but to occupy yourself, I find it very encouraging (especially if I want to do it!). The best part about school is that I'm taking mostly 10th-grade classes. Biology, Geometry, Honors English, Art in World Cultures (ELECTIVE), HOPE (this is P.E.), Civics (Charisma and I could've taken this in 8th grade but my parents didn't want us too), and Digital Literacy (it's required. Trust me, I tried to get out of it....). :D I'm going to be so busy! :D
My Japanese is going well, although I would like better sources for vocabulary and grammar (those are the two things I'm currently working on). Or maybe, I don't know, a teacher? As some of you might know, it's my goal to take a college course for Japanese at my local community college while in 10th grade. That is why I must get all A's on my report card. I'm an over-achiever when it comes to school. If I don't get an A or a B, I will be absolutely shattered, but I would still tell my parents that I got a low score, because they'll either help me, remind me of my goal, tell me to get help from a teacher if I'm really struggling with a certain concept, and a whole lot more. I'm digitally editing a character that I drew! And let me tell you, *laughs*, I don't have anything fancy. No SAI, no Wacom Cintiq or Intuos, no Photoshop. Nada. Zilch. Nothing. All I've got is my handy-dandy, scanner, Paint (which is already installed on every computer), and my imagination. And truthfully, I am terrified. This is the scariest experience of my artist life. (I have several lives: Writer's Life, Artist's Life, Blogger's Life, Over-Achiever's Life, Crocheter's Life, Reader's Life, OTAKU's Life, Family Person's Life, and Outstanding-Amazing Friend's Life. I have nine lives unless someone can see more of my lives that I can't see... One might say I have nine lives. :D) Since I've never done this before (and since I have ZERO LAYERS. I didn't know what layers did before, but now I know that layers ARE A BLESSING!!! Do not take those beauties for granted!) I'm watching my sister (who is digital editing too) while she gives me tips, and I'm re-doing everything for the Umpteenth time. Though, I will survive. I read a variety of good books this summer (don't worry, I'm gonna do some Book Reviews before school starts) and now I have found my favorite Female author: Katy Towell. I love her so much, that reading the two books she published were satisfaction for a week. Her books are all the scary, friendship, terrifying-suspenseful moments I could ever want in a book! :D Her website is called Skary and, I believe, she's working on another book (oh am I excited!). I've had one for a while know but, I'm finally on Miiverse! I've put several posts from my gaming experiences on Demo's and full games, although they're all from Nintendo. I've posted some Style Savvy: Trendsetters and Fashion Forward, some Pokemon X and some other games as well. I'm trying to earn the money to buy some games (Animal Crossing: New Leaf is NEXT on my list. Unless someone convinces me otherwise), yet that's taking a whole lot longer than anticipated. So yup! This is life. I hope all of you have a great rest of summer break! |
Who We Are We are twin sisters who like to do almost anything! Inspiring people to get out their creativity is our forte and we strive to travel on magnificent journey through words on a page. Exploration is the doorway to opportunity and the endless possibilities of helping and reaching out to others is something that we endeavor to create. This crazy blog of ours is one of the many ways we hope to achieve that goal.
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