思えば遠くへ来たようです / Seems Like I've Come a Pretty Long Way

こんにちは！

Hellos and welcome, dear readers!

先日ブログ開設１周年記念メールを

はてなブログさんから受け取り、

もう１年！？　と驚いたタカペンです！

Just the other day, I got an email from Hatena Blog congratulating me on my first anniversary, and I was like what anniversary? lol

ブログが一周年と言うことはタカペン活動も

おおよそ一周年と言うことで、少しこの１年を

振り返ってみようと思いました

Then of course I realized that it's been a whole year since I created this blog, which also means that I've been doing my Taka Pen activities for nearly a year now. So I would like to take this opportunity to look back on my first year of activities! 

散文になりますがお付き合いいただければ幸いです♪

I'm likely to meander all over, but it'd be great if you could stick it out! :)

ブログ / My Blog

ブログの開設自体は９月１１日だったようで

初めて記事を投稿したのは９月１５日でした。

Apparently I created my blog on September 11th, and my first entry was on the 15th.

日付を確認する為に過去の記事リストを確認して

「そうだった、あの頃は本当に右も左もわからなくて

　右往左往しながら試行錯誤してたなぁ」と

少し感慨深くもあり、またとても懐かしくもありました

In order to check on my dates, I went back to look at my entries and that brought back all my memories of how clueless I was back then, and how I spent so much time and efforts looking into how to set up this blog first of all, and basically how to do anything I wanted to do. Good old times!

あの頃は「頑張ってアフィリエイトとか狙っちゃうかも！」

とか意気込んでいましたが、実際にアフィリエイトで

励んでる方たちのブログを見て結構すぐに

「あ、これはタカペンに向いてないやつだ」と

諦めたのも良い思い出です（笑）

Way back then, I chose Hatena service because I read that it was one of the blogs suited to set up affiliates. Yes, I was actually thinking of trying my hand at getting some side income through my blog. >:D

Of course, soon after seeing how the pros were doing it, I immediately gave up on the idea. Just wasn't something I'd be able to do. lol

そしてこうして改めて振り返ると色々と

ありましたし挑戦してみました

And looking back on everything else that's happened over the year, a whole lot happened!!

SNS全くわからないなりにあれこれ開設して

それらでできることできないこと調べたり

ちょっと活動が起動にのってきたかな、と

思ったら動画にコンテンツの著作権侵害の

なんとかがついたり、その件が落ち着いた頃に

ギター挑戦始めたり、その後にはまた著作権問題が

再発して、そんなさなか念願の日本旅行して

帰ってきたらなぜかマンガ連載なんかして

そこらへんで肩痛めてパソコン前座れなくなって

I created a whole bunch of social media accounts, even though I wasn't familiar with any of them; once my initial blog and social media setups kind of settled down and I thought I was getting into the groove of things, then that dreaded Content ID check popped up on my video on YouTube; once that got settled down somewhat, for some odd reason I started picking up the guitar (lol); then the Content ID issue came back up again, and around the same time, I went on my long-awaited for trip to Japan; then once I came back, I did a whole comic series (all 30-some pages!!); and around that time, I pulled something in my left shoulder and neck area so that made it nearly impossible to sit at a desk for any stretch of time....

思えばなんかよくわからないことを

いっぱいしてるタカペンです（笑）

Listing the things that I did and that happened to me, I really have no clue where I'm headed with myself. lol

アメリカ日常日記もまた再開したいし

ギター弾いてみた感想とかもっと書きたいし

著作権問題もっと詳しく書きたいし

歌詞英訳説明も追いつかないとだし

I want to get back to writing about my daily life in the U.S.

I also want to write about my experiences with the guitar.

I really want to write about the Content ID issue and my resolution thereof.

And I still have, let's see, I think 3 or 4 songs that I need to write my translation explanations for... O_O

Wow that's a lot...

やりたいこと書き出すと「いや無理ゲー」

ってなりますが、一つずつできることから

やっていきたいと思います

So yeah, ummm written out like that I don't feel like I could possibly do them all, but oh well, gotta take everything one step at a time...!

YouTube

英訳して歌ってみたの動画をあげてる場所が

YouTubeさんなので、メイン活動の場所とも

言える場所かもしれません

YouTube would (should?) be my main activity location as this is where I upload my English cover videos, the main point of all of my activities.

活動を始めて現在登録者数３２人です♪

I currently have 32 subscribers! >:3

少ないとも言えるし多いとも言える

見方によって変わるものだな～と言う感想です

You could take that as being very few or a whole lot. Really depends on how you look at it.

タカペンの推してる活動者さんがいるのですが、タカペンより遅くに

活動を始めてらっしゃるのにも関わらず現在登録者数2万人越え！

There's someone I stan who started their activities much later than me, but who now has 20K+ followers.

活動内容と熱量と頻度と全てにおいて違うので

比べられるものではないのですが、

活動時期だけを見るとタカペンの３２は

少ないんだろうなぁと思ったりします

My stan is really out there uploading and livestreaming frequently as well as promoting proactively, so you can't really compare apples and oranges, but if you look at just the length of our activities span, you could look at 32 subscribers as "only" 32.

でもむしろタカペンの活動内容と頻度の少なさとか

ちょっと「何をしたいのかわからない」感があることを

考えると３２人も登録してくださってるのは

とてもありがたいなぁと思います

However, considering what I do and how very infrequently, and considering it's kind of hard to tell where I'm headed with my activities, I think 32 people interested enough to take the time to subscribe to my channel is a huge thing.

そして結構この数減ったりするのでこの記事の後に

「へータカペン32人登録者いるのか、どれどれ」

と見に行かれたら32人いないかもしれません（笑）

Oh, and yeah, the number of subscribers decrease pretty frequently, so if you go check now, it might be fewer. lol

最初の頃は減る度に一喜一憂していましたが

最近ではむしろ登録者さまが増えても

「どうせ減るんでしょ…！！」

とうがった目で見てます（笑）

I used to take each increase and decrease to heart, but now even if I see someone subscribe, I take that fact with a grain of salt since people can change their minds anytime.

でもほんと、こんなに広い世界の片隅で活動してる

タカペンに目を止めていただける方が一人でも

いるだけで凄いことだと思っているので

YouTubeの登録者さまのみならず、このブログを

読んでくださってる方も、ツイッターで繋がって

くださってる方も、とにかくちらっとでも

見ていただけるだけでとてもありがたいです

But really, I think it's pretty amazing that in this whole wide world, people even take notice of my activities, let alone take a second look and like them enough to subscribe, or follow, or however people connect with me. Even if they don't subscribe, but just check out my videos whenever they feel like, that's a huge fuzzy feeling they're seding my way. ^-^

うん、それが例え動画の低評価だとしても（笑）

Yeah, even if it's a "dislike" button. DX

初めて低評価を認識したときは「うっ」となりましたし

今でも見る度に「うっ」となりますが、逆を言えば

それだけの人の目にとまっていて、その低評価を

押すだけの時間をもらっているんだなぁと

思うようにしてます

The first time I realized that people were "disliking" my videos, I was like HOMG it's the end of the world!!! They hates me waaaaaaaah!!!!

And I still do take some damage from seeing the "dislikes", but I try to appreciate the fact that they even took the time to hit that "dislike" button.

書いててダメージを受けてる自分がいますが（笑）

Says me, all the while taking tiny hits to my fragile heart. lol

だっだいじょうぶだもんっ！！！

N-n-n-n-o worries!!!

タカペンがんばるっ！！

I'm totally fine!!

自分鼓舞大事、うん

Self-hypnosis is pretty important in life. OHMmmmmm

Twitter

さて、次の項目は現在タカペン活動の要と

なってるツイッターあらためXさんです

Next up is Twitter, or rather, X.

…X慣れないです。

Yeah... X.

だって「X」って書いたって何のことか

わからないじゃないですか（汗

Like writing just "X" would convey to people what I'm trying to write about!

さて、それはおいといて

But anyway.

英訳して歌ってみたを始めたときは、まさか

こんなにツイッターで動くようになるとは

実は思ってませんでした

When I first started my English covers, I didn't think I would be doing so much on Twitter.

タカペンはパソコンは使い慣れてますが

それ以外の文明には取り残されてるような

ペンギンなので、SNSとかとてもうといです

I'm used to using a PC, but all other technologies, I've fallen behind with.

Twitterやってる今でもうといと感じます（笑）

Even though I'm more active on Twitter now (omg I'm actually using a social media platform!!!) I really don't feel up to date as everyone else. lol

色んな方と絡ませていただいたり、色んな方を

見かけなくなったり、新しい出会いを別れを

繰り返す場でもあり、面白い場所です

To me, Twitter right now is a place where I get to exchange the time of day with people and a place where I see people come and go. A pretty interesting place, actually.

とりあえずタカペンは大体一日一ポストで

細々と動いてます♪

Me, personally, I try to keep up by trying to post once a day.

Instagram/Facebook

アカウント持ってます

ブログや動画投稿活動報告を載せてます

以上

Instagram and Facebook, I created accounts, I post my blog and video activities, and that's it.

みたいな動きになってますこの二つは

Is pretty much how I'm using these two platforms.

Facebookはもとより活動記録を残すような

イメージがあるので別に良いのですが

インスタはなんかもうちょっとやりようが

あるんじゃないかなぁと思いつつ

どうしたら良いのかよくわからない

って感じです

To begin with, Facebook never really seemed like a place to announce to the world about my anonymous cover songs, so things are just as I expected.

With Instagram though, I was imagining more interactions than the pretty much zero interaction I have right now.

顔出しの活動者さんが多いので、そこに

変なペンギンが混ざってもどうなんだろ？

って感じですね（笑）

Just that once I actually started, I noticed that most people went around without hiding their faces. So... that kind of felt awkward to jump in there as an animated penguin. lol

あと、リアルで繋がる傾向が多い印象です

ネット活動ではなく、リアルで一緒に活動する人を

見付ける場所？みたいな印象なので

ネットで細々やってく予定のタカペンとは

ちょっと需要が違うのかな？　どうなのかな？

って様子見です（1年も（笑））

Also, based on the very few interactions I experienced and observed, it seemed like people were looking to connect irl rather than doing things together online, which sure as heck are not my intentions. If that's what I wanted to do, I think I'd be physically going around my town and elsewhere actively seeking place to perform live. No, thank you, I'm an introvert and want to do things from the comforts of my home, not go out there and dive into the totally out there discomfort zone....!

Soooo kind of just testing the waters for now with Instagram. Yes, even after a whole year of it. :)

そう言えばインスタで大事なこと忘れてました

Oh, and one more thing I completely forgot about.

以前はインスタで毎日のように写メを投稿して

その投稿をブログで引っ張ってきて

日常ブログを書いてました

I used to post pictures almost daily with Instagram, and I enjoyed it even if no one saw them. It was convenient to post there and then refer to them from the blog. 

便利だなぁと思っていたのですが、ふと

なんか変だな、と思ったことがあって

なんか写メをアップロードした後に

別の写メをアップロードしようとすると

前回アップロードした写メが2枚あるんですね

で何かと思ったらインスタで投稿すると

コピーが一々作成されるらしくて、その設定を

変えることができたいため、嫌なら自分で

逐一削除しなければならないと…

It was convenient until I realized that everytime I posted a picture, my phone was making back up files of each uploaded picture. So I was basically accumulating doubles of all the pictures I took, and apparently there's no way to turn off the feature anywhere. I'd just have to go in and manually delete the copies myself...

自分でファイル削除するとなると間違って

元の写真も消しちゃいそうで…

I hate manually deleting things on the phone because I'm afraid of deleting something I shouldn't.

なのでインスタで写メ投稿するのやめちゃったんでした

で、それで日常系ブログ記事も減ってしまったと…

思い出しました（汗

So that's why I don't use Instagram anymore and that's also the reason behind fewer blog entries about my daily activities, because I don't have a picture reference anymore.

Threads / Discord / たいっつー(Taittsoo)

6月あたりにすわ、ツイッター終了！？

みたいな感じがあって、ちょっと避難所を

探してアカウントを作ったのが

スレッズとディスコードそしてたいっつーです

As some of you may be aware or not, Twitter went through a whole lot of upheavals this past year or so. Around June, it seemed like people might be abandoning ship because Twitter was acting all weird. So around that time, I was looking for places to move my activities, and created Threads, Discord, and Taittsoo accounts.

スレッズはFacebookやInstagramと同じMeta社の

新しいSNSアプリと言うことで期待値がかなりありました

実際問題アカウント作ったところ

よくわからない～ツイッターでいいや～となりました

Threads is the new social media platform from Meta that everyone was hoping would be able to take place of Twitter. Unfortunately, I can't quite pinpoint the differences, but it just didn't work out. I mean I have the account just in case, but it's not my main point of activity yet.

ディスコードは昔から存在は認識していましたし

海外では特にユーザーが多いイメージなのですが

何しろオープンではないのが一番のネックです

Discord, I've known about its existence for some time now, especially since English speakers have been using it and I've been invited to Discord servers for one thing or the other before. So I know a lot of people use it, just that you have to create and/or belong to a server, which isn't quite what I need.

企画を一緒に進めるとかだとディスコードは

便利なプラットフォームなんでしょうけど

知らない人に発信して日記を見てもらう、と言うのは

できないので、アカウント作ってサーバーも作って

おしまいって感じでした

If you wanted to create a private space to work on an online project with people, I think Discord is a great place to use. You can share files, chatter with people, and they also have voice chats if needed. However, I don't think it's made for discovering the new and  the unknown. You have to already have some interest and look for it on Discord. I don't know of a way you can discover new and unknown things just by chance on Discord since it's not made that way. So I just created my account and server, and that's pretty much it. 

たいっつーは名前からしてあまり本気じゃなさそうだなぁ

と思ってアカウント作るだけ作って三日ほど

観察して「なんかおもしろーい」で終わりました

当時まだリプ機能がなかったので、タイムラインで

その時間帯にいる人たちでチャットしてる、

みたいな感覚でした

Taittsoo is a service started by a Japanese person and the name is an anagram on Twitter. It also sounds like pantyhose in Japanese, so I didn't think it to be too serious, and it wasn't, at least not at the time I made an account. I mean I think it's got potentials. I actually kind of liked the small world atmosphere, but just not what I need right now, unfortunately.

纏め / Conclusion

そんなこんなであれこれ色々と手を出したり

チャレンジしてみてるタカペンです

So in looking back, I did a whole bunch of stuff and a whole bunch of stuff happened to me this past year...!

もう1年

まだ1年

Already a year

Only a year

タカペンは飽き性なので、今まで色んなものに

手を出してはやめて、を繰り返してきました

今回は自分の中で「とりあえず何がなんでも

続けたい」と思っているので、とにかく

前進あるのみです

tbh yours truly tend to lose interest quickly on a lot of things. To this day, I've started and dropped so many projects and activities so that I thought it was high time I tried to actually stick out with something and not drop it just because I got tired of it.

たくさん休憩したとしても（笑）

Even if I took lots of long respites inbetween... :P

と言うことで、ブログ三日坊主気味なタカペンですが

これからもお時間のあるときに覗いてっていただけると

とても嬉しいです♪

And so, although there's a lot of stop and go's, I hope people can still check out on my blog whenever they have the time!

どうぞよろしくお願いいたします（o_ _)ｏ））

Thank you for all your continued support!!

それでは次の記事でお会いしましょう♪

Looking forward to seeing you in my next blog entry!

ではではっ！

Taka, out!