In the late 19th century and early 20th century, a popular form of entertainment in America was Vaudeville. Vaudeville performances were usually divided into 10 acts. Each performer could perform to the audience in any fashion they desired: music, dancing, comedy, magic, animal acts, re-enactments, impersonations, and so on. Many famous actors such as Buster Keaton, Al Jolson, the Marx Brothers, and Jimmy Durante got their start in Vaudeville.
Vaudeville producers usually saved what they considered the best performance for the second-to-last act, or penultimate act. The actual last act would be a "crappy" performance meant to clear the house, but the penultimate act is what people often came to see. Now, I saw a documentary on Vaudeville many years ago, and it claimed that the penultimate act was often a duet between a man and a woman, usually singing about love; I guess love songs never go out of style.
I mention this because this is the second-to-last thing I will ever post here. Later today, I will begin signing up in places showing my true name and face. This will be the end of my anonymity online, just as sound in cinema signaled the end of Vaudeville. This is the end of a phase of my life, the phase that started when I finished high school, and ended nearly a year after I earned my college degree.
In the past, I did not want to show my name and face online, for there are people from my past that I've encountered in real life that I am not on good terms with. I did not want to deal with them, so I hid under pseudonyms for nearly six years. However, I can't run away anymore. If one of these people wants to try to confront me again, I will just have to face them head on. I can't be a coward anymore; it's time I faced both my fears and my enemies if I am to make something of myself.
In the visual novel Little Busters, in my favorite route, your character, Riki Naoe, learns that Yuiko Kurugaya is a talented pianist. She has also written a song that she hasn't titled. She will play this throughout the route; it is a slower and softer remix of her leitmotif. I will end this entry with an embed of her song. If for whatever reason, this Youtube video goes down, just play, "No title 'a Capriccio Played by an Awakening Love'" somehow. It's the most appropriate way to signify the end of this period of my life.
"Consider the rose . . . The rose is the sweetest smelling flower of all, and it's the most simple, right? But sometimes, you got to clip the rose. You got to cut the rose back, so something sweeter smelling and stronger, and even more beautiful will grow in its place."-Zutty Singleton.
