A letter from Aug 12, 2024

Hey. I hope I forgot I sent this letter, I do want this to be a surprise of some sort. Новогоднее чудо, if you will. Now that I think about it, I'm not even sending this letter that far into the future. I'm not convinced it shows the date I wrote this, but just to be sure, it's Monday, August 12th. I graduated a bit less than a month ago, and I'm still in disbelief. I'm currently waiting for my documents to be updated to my actual name and gender, so that I can finally move on with my life as myself. My plan is to apply to Toyo language school through Coto, and leave to Japan upcoming winter for the January semester. I'm getting less and less hopeful about that happening, though. The name change is taking an awful lot of time, and I really hope everything will get changed in time to apply. Not to mention, I'll have to cram 150 hours of Japanese studies before I leave, and I'm not fully sure if the lessons I've followed up until now count. I'm not really stressed about any of that, though. Whatever happens, happens. I won't be terribly upset if I miss this sememster and will have to apply to the next one - though, assuming I do miss the January term, I'll probably apply for the July or even the October term, not the April term, so that I have more time to save up money - as long as I get to Japan eventually, and hopefully celebrate the end of 2025 there. Which brings us to you. To the me from the future. To your current me. I hope everything went well, and even if it didn't, I still hope I'm in Japan by the time I read these words again. I hope I'm having a good time, or at least something similar to what I'm imagining right now. I'm not sure if I'm going to make any friends while studying, and I'm not sure if I'm celebrating new years with them right now.. Knowing myself, probably not. One of the reasons I want to leave so bad is so that I don't have to celebrate new years with my family. It sounds rude, but I just want to have a peaceful celebration once, in complete solitude, then return to the chaos. But if I AM celebrating it with others, it's probably because I got roped into a celebration and couldn't say no. Which wouldn't be a terrible turn of events, but certainly not what I imagined. I hope you're relatively at peace. I hope your biggest worry is your homework. I hope you're still enjoying studying this intricate language as much as I do now. I hope you're having the good experience in the education system I hope for so badly - something to drown out the bitterness of the previous 15 years. I hope your portfolio is coming along okay. Got any gigs? Maybe you're even following the voice acting course I'm thinking of. I hope turning 20 didn't give you too many weird existential feelings. I hope you're okay. And even if you're not, the time will pass anyway. We have our whole future ahead of us. - 19 year old Misha