Sayonara

So today marks the tenth anniversary of this blog. Ten years of pretty regular posting (at least I have posted a minimum of once a month every month for that whole period). Today also marks the end of that regular posting (and mayyybe of this blog). I like the blog format as it gives free reign for long flights of fancy. There’s only so much you can do on Twitter and, although you can do more on it, Facebook isn’t the best place for long posts either. Nevertheless although I still absolutely bloody adore idols I do find myself having less to say. Add to this the fact that reader figures are dropping and I think now is the right time to finish. I could continue making the occasional post but I think that if the posts aren’t regular maybe that would just mean people forgetting about this place entirely so the numbers would fall even further. But maybe not. Who knows? I may post again sometime in the future but right now my intention is to say sayonara, see you again, adios bye-bye and indeed chacha. I will still be on Twitter but long rambling picspam posts will be no more.
When I look back at my time here I’m happy with what I have done. Ten years is a long time to be passionate about any form of entertainment and when I look back especially at my early posts there are a lot I’m happy with. I particularly like my fanfics and some of the odder posts such as my H!P board game posts. I also managed to really annoy a lot of Mitsui fans (bless her because she’s actually sweet but I guess her fans took my humour very literally).
Through this blog I made many friends. It also led to me traveling to Paris to see Momusu back in 2010. I met my wife there but more importantly Ai-chan and Junj…I’m saying this out loud aren’t I? I mean…I met all of Momusu which was awesome but also met my wife which was also awesome. It was all awesome. I’m being humorous. Awesome. It was. Yoda I am.
So this blog means a lot to me. It led me to Twitter where I got to know so many more people. It gave me an outlet for both my love of idols and my love of taking nothing seriously, least of all the idol culture. It was an outlet for my passions. It was somewhere where I could squee (for that is what we all used to do ten years ago) over Kaori, Ai-chan, Konkon, S/mileage (oh those early days) and especially Yuuka, Nacky, Junjun, Koharu (no, now I have no idea why either), Okada Yui, Yajima Maimi, Ishida Ayumi and eventually Kobushi and especially Hamachan and Nomnom. All wonderful idols and I didn’t even mention Momusu’s sixth gen stars or Nacchi or Sakura Gakuin or Shokotan (who I also met in Paris. So cool). Having an outlet for all this happiness has been so enjoyable. As has having an outlet for humour. It’s important to have a laugh too.
This blog has also been great for reading people’s comments. It’s good to get the opinion of others and a blog is a good way of doing that. So thank you to anyone who has commented here and I hope if you use Twitter you are following me there.
My love of idols is not waning. Maybe H!P isn’t quite as popular with others right now but there are still groups and idols I love there. I’m also getting a bit into the more underground idol scene too. So idols will hopefully be a big part of my life for the next ten years too. But for this blog I need to finish and so I’d like to state once and for all that idols are so positive, so hard-working, so funny, so inspirational and so talented in so many ways. Liking them is an incredibly uplifting experience. People who judge just based on gender or age are missing so much. So I raise a glass to idols and idol fans. I have so much respect for everyone and when looking back at past idols I always feel such warmth. Especially when I think of my all-time favourite. I think my final words on this blog should be thanks and appreciation to my favourite idol. So beautiful and sweet and funny. Such a good singer and such a good heart. Thank you Mitsui Ai…no. Thank you Takahashi Ai!