End of a good Filler arc

A "filler" describes moments in a series designed to waste time to fit a production schedule. It's used most commonly in Anime--Japanese animation. Most anime's are based off of Manga (Japanese comics). When a story in a manga gets popular, it gets bought by a company and turned into an anime. Once an anime "catches up" with the manga, the anime studio will create Filler arcs which take the story off its main course for weeks, sometimes even years, until there is an obvious distance between the manga and anime. In some animes, characters gain one-time-only special abilities. For example, Sailor Jupiter learned an awesome electric attack in a filler arc and it never showed up again, despite being awesome. Once the Filler arc is over, the characters return to their core plot of a series and the fans--the ones who could tolerate 30-100+ episodes or chapters--rejoice in seeing their favorite comic books/anime/manga back in their natural element.

I like  love metaphors--they let me draw parallels to things that others might not see a similarity  to. If I had to compare filler arcs in an anime to the past 6 post-undergrad months at work in my hometown, I would, but I really can't. The past six months resembles an anime filler arc. I mean, I learned a bunch of techniques I'll never use again: working in retail, certification in CPR, etc. Not to mention, I did veer off from the main "Get back to Japan" plot into a "work as an RA for a year" arc which lead into another "save up for your ticket to Japan" arc, AKA "work in retail and at a YMCA" arc. But, unlike anime, these Filler arcs were some of the most important moments of my whole life--and no anime fan has ever said "The filler was better than the series" (unless they're hipsters in disguise).

Now that it's certain I'm going to be all up in Japan again, I've reviewed the past 6 months since I left there and I'm finding it hard to say what was "filler" and what wasn't. Sure, there we're times I thought "I'm totally not gonna miss this" whenever a kid at the YMCA made a fart sound while I was talking and there were times I thought "won't miss this, either" whenever I had to awkwardly disassemble or undress a feminine mannequin. With that, though, comes a wave of things I am going to miss. I'm going to miss  my haste walk into Sci-fi City to pick up weekly comics, long drives to mom's house listening to Modest Mouse, Kendrick Lamar and Pink Floyd, meeting some of the most important children I'll ever meet, teaching them to play chess, learning that referencing any Pokemon from my generation makes me "old," eating at Scott's Place: home of the Big C burger, recording videos impulsively with loved ones, loved ones, loved ones etc.

In a lot of ways, it was the past few months that made me realize why I'm going back to Japan. I have the most supportive cast of characters that have been loyal throughout the series--even the fillers. They have invested and expect me to show that their investment was a worthy one. My career in Japan started off as my own but now its about us. Its about how I can make a difference and how I can be part of someone else's supportive cast of characters. So to anyone who feels like they have been deferred from their main plot, their grand adventure and have acquired new techniques, had pointless encounters with people that may never be seen again, been over-exposed to mundane themes, I say, it's only filler if you aren't writing the series. If you are the author of your life, you'll make it work.

And as I pack my luggage while writing this last sentence, I realized I've over packed. One for clothes, the other for books and the last one is filled with fun.

Thanks for reading. Catch me here.

Villainy.