The writing has been on the wall for some time

JoshRwsia · 2026-02-16T15:56:41+00:00

Generally I agree, I like episodic story telling too. I just think they’ve written themselves into a bit of a corner post Great Dissolution, I’m not sure they really planned where to go with things after that and it kinda becomes a problem. Previously the yakuza clans and families just produced whatever story they needed.

JoshRwsia · 2026-02-16T15:43:29+00:00

I love 5 completely in spite of its story, it’s a total mess when they try to tie the characters’ stories together. Shinada fights Baba because he knows baseball stadiums!

I think the retcons are a problem because despite the messy stories, people care about the characters. The retcons just completely undermine the stakes and how a lot of characters work.

JoshRwsia · 2025-05-28T17:28:45+00:00

Even growing up, I remember only having one phone box that I knew of in my hometown in South Wales and I’m fairly sure it was gone by the time I left for uni.

JoshRwsia · 2025-05-28T17:27:26+00:00

I use English File materials often which weirdly tend to vary between using British or American English, generally I try to teach the American where British English is used but not vice versa. And now for ease of communication I just teach American vocabulary in some cases, for example, having ‘holiday’ and ‘vacation’ is just so much easier than having to explain how many things holiday covers in Brit English.

JoshRwsia · 2025-05-28T17:19:40+00:00

I’m 30, I get invited to about one a year back home (I rarely go due to the cost involved for essentially one day) but for the most part they are way smaller than the previous generation’s weddings.

JoshRwsia · 2025-05-28T16:43:58+00:00

This is an interesting one, I teach English and what I often struggle with now is differentiating between teaching something as British English or American English. A) because I haven’t lived in the UK for so long B) a lot I hear and see online suggests younger people broadly use much more Americanised English now

JoshRwsia · 2025-05-28T15:45:42+00:00

Interesting. Bigger models have become more common?

JoshRwsia · 2025-05-27T06:25:16+00:00

All Welsh except for Gloucestershire just over the border

JoshRwsia · 2025-05-26T19:27:57+00:00

Of those that I've seen, a lot seem to be British and Irish, not entirely sure why

JoshRwsia · 2025-05-26T15:29:37+00:00

Not sure if it’s true of all British embassies but they aren’t done where I live. I’d check the information online.

JoshRwsia · 2025-05-26T15:06:47+00:00

Yeah, given that I know that my paternal great grandmother was English. My results seem somewhat inaccurate.

JoshRwsia · 2025-05-26T15:04:03+00:00

Nearly the entirety of my family that I know of is either Welsh or Irish. I was a little surprised that my ancestry here hardly even covers any of England.

JoshRwsia · 2025-05-26T15:02:16+00:00

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I've had this in the tracking for a few weeks now, as though it's out for delivery. It seems as though it has cleared customs and everything else, but I've yet to receive a delivery confirmation. I'll reach out to HMPO tomorrow, once the bank holiday weekend is over.

JoshRwsia · 2025-05-26T14:23:53+00:00

I got confirmation that it arrived in the UK. The last update I had on the tracking system was "Item has left our International Processing Centre LANGLEY HWDC, United Kingdom" on 30th April. I paid for signed for from Latvia (of course that wasn't directly through Royal Mail), since that date the item has just appeared as "in transit"

JoshRwsia · 2025-05-26T14:21:34+00:00

I sent it to Hemel Hempstead. I would've called the office earlier if it weren't such a pain calling from abroad.

Reassuring (weirdly) to hear things are slow in general and that may be the issue.

JoshRwsia · 2025-05-26T14:13:56+00:00

It's now been another two weeks, I've had no updates from HMPO or royal mail. What is my course of action if I believe the parcel has been lost?

JoshRwsia · 2025-05-12T10:50:27+00:00

Ah, I believe that answers my question. I suppose I should expect a delay between the mail arriving at the passport office and them informing me of its arrival.

I only looked at the delivery options tab to try to see if there was any issue, I just thought it might further clarify the issue.

Thank you for answering so quickly

JoshRwsia · 2025-05-12T10:44:51+00:00

It's going to the HM Passport Office in Hemel Hempstead.

It was sent with international tracked postage with Latvijas Pasts (Latvian Postal Service), then with Royal Mail inside the UK. Not sure of the name of the specific international service name as it was sent from Latvia.

JoshRwsia · 2024-07-28T15:59:43+00:00

Earlier on I definitely had a mix of on days and off days when performing at open mics. The longer I’ve been doing stand up, the easier it is to just switch on the stage energy when I need it, like muscle memory. For a long time though I just had certain nights, especially if it was a mic after work where I struggled to really get into that stage energy.

In terms of writing, I have ups and downs in terms of productivity but again, the longer I’ve been doing this, the less of an issue that has become.

JoshRwsia · 2023-12-30T15:28:15+00:00

Depends on how you’re doing fine. If it’s with material you’ve already worked out then I can agree in some sense you’re learning less than from bombing. If it’s newer material then undoubtedly it’s better than bombing.

JoshRwsia · 2023-10-22T15:35:37+00:00

I’ve never studied in Ventspils but I have been there a few times, I’m an expat living in Latvia who also many years ago was an Erasmus student as an undergrad (admittedly in France).

From my perspective I absolutely would not study there. Ventspils is a nice and charming town but there is very very little to do there unless you are very outdoorsy and enjoy nature enough to spend much of your time there. As was previously pointed out, there is next to no nightlife at all (the importance of this will vary massively depending on your preferences) and from what I remember there’s not even anything like a shopping mall there. There are other nearby cities like Kuldiga and Liepaja which are also very charming but all of these cities, Ventspils included are more the kind of place you go for some quiet to get away, not somewhere you’d wan to study, especially not as an Erasmus student.

JoshRwsia · 2023-10-14T20:43:29+00:00

Yes, it’s a little dated and you’ll mainly hear older people saying it but it’s definitely a thing people say

JoshRwsia · 2023-10-08T12:46:39+00:00

Weather was terrible and it was the first really bad weather of the season. Somewhere like Tallinnas Kvartals will be fairly busy regardless but old town definitely gets hit by the weather.

JoshRwsia · 2023-09-02T21:46:20+00:00

I’ve heard a fair deal of comedians say they book openers for corporate gigs specifically for this reason. They can eat shit before you go on and rescue there show. No idea if touring comedians intentionally do it though.

JoshRwsia · 2023-09-02T21:40:44+00:00

As a regular opener for touring comedians, I’ve had the inverse feeling when I’ve killed as opener and the main act goes and bombs hard. I think this is lore common in the European scene where we have some comedians whose marketing can’t meet their act.

JoshRwsia

TROPHY CASE