I hope that when the time comes for me to apply for med school, they'll accept me and I'll get a chance to troll my way through it too, lol. But I do take pre-med courses, and from what I'm getting it really sounds like medicine is a lifestyle. So if you're heart's not into it or if you really hate it, you'll have a hard time. Well, I'm in no way telling you that you should drop out of med school, but if you'll accept advice from me you should find something in your work that you are passionate about! Medicine is great because you can specialize in a field you're most interested in, and that's a good way to explore your interests even within medicine. You mentioned being interested in psychiatry as a specialization, do you still feel like you want to explore that path?

And I don't think there's a set way to be passionate, just like there's no set way to be happy or sad, everyone expresses it in different ways. How you feel about something is the way you feel about something, there's no right or wrong way to feel; you just...do. I've noticed that you sound a little disappointed in yourself when you mention that you don't react with the same enthusiasm to certain things as some of your friends do, and you shouldn't be disappointed; I don't think there's anything wrong with that. There's no right amount of emotion that you have to show.

I feel like individualism can be described in different ways, say the Ozaki way and the Seishin way. I think both are individualistic. Seishin because he's not influenced by the system and strives to be true to himself; Ozaki because like I mentioned before, he does succumb to people's expectations, yes, but he does it on his own terms. Rather than being influenced by the system, I feel like Ozaki exerts his own influence on the system. For instance, patients see it as a given that when they come into the clinic, they're given the gruff Ozaki treatment. That's the norm in the village, so really, Ozaki has made his role in healthcare a part of the system. There's a lot of different ways to be an individualist that can't really be described. The closest I can think of is 'Actively striving to find something that sets you apart', as opposed to conforming. But then everyone's an individualist because I doubt anyone wakes up in the morning thinking "Wow, I want to do exactly what everyone else wants to do, not what I want to do!" And what's up with the bad rep for the concept of 'conforming'? If you start watching a show that all your friends love, you're conforming. But then you have a new thing to enjoy with the people close to you; that aspect of conforming proves that it's not a purely negative thing.

"Is it because Toshio is a human, so harming other humans is therefore wrong, but the Shiki aren't humans so judging them according to human standards are wrong?" - I like that analysis a lot. That may very well be the case because it rings true with what Seishin said to Sunako at the end of Shiki; she should stop thinking of herself as a bad person because she's forsaken God because she no longer falls under God's law. And we've already mentioned that Seishin has his own very specific idea of who God truly is; it's very likely that he thinks that Ozaki must also be subject to his God's law. However, Ozaki isn't hurting other humans, he's hurting Shiki. If Seishin's god states that humans can't harm other humans, then Ozaki is doing no wrong. But wait, doesn't that seem to be the rationale behind Seishin sympathizing with the Shiki: he sees them as human? And if he sees them as human, then he really should judge them according to human standards. Could it be that Seishin goes from believing that the Shiki are human to accepting that they're something other than human? He also shows that as a jinrou, he's not subject to God's law either when he kills Ohkawa--probably something Seishin the Human would not have done even if Sunako was in danger.

The difference between you and Seishin on the whole accepting the system thing could be just that you agree with the system you're in and accept it, while Seishin does not. If you were in a system you wouldn't agree in, would you act like Seishin? is what you should ask. If you were the junior monk in Sotoba, would you be okay with it or would you do anything and everything, including befriending a shady loli, to get out of that situation?

Well, you've told me all of this stuff about you and I don't think you're weird! While I definitely don't think you should tell your deepest feelings to people you don't trust, it might be nice to open up because the other person might open up and you never know, maybe you'll find a kindred spirit. ...says me, who always gets embarrassed when she talks about feelings and makes some kind of joke to laugh it off XD But what about you wanting to contemplate individualism makes you weird? You're philosophical, it's definitely more interesting than contemplating celebrity gossip instead.

Luckily, I'm pursuing a "hard" career anyway! I have a pretty long fuse, so I can put up with mostly anything for a long time, so I'm trying to use that to my advantage. As a kid, I was always encouraged to let provocations go. Now, it's more like if I'm talking to my boss who I don't like, I'm thinking "okay, I want to say something passive-aggressive, but I'd rather play nice instead so I look better in her eyes. Maybe the next time I call in sick, she'll be understanding." I always look for the long-term benefit and am usually okay with doing stuff I don't like to achieve it.

One thing I know is that if you actively look for a romantic partner, you won't get one! It's good that you're not concerned with it now, anyway; all that energy can be directed toward more productive things, like a hobby or anything else that can make you happy. Guys do have weird criteria, but so do girls...sometimes I sit down to think of what I want in a guy, and then I'm like, "I'm so weird..."

It's probably good for Sotoba that Ozaki is more concerned with the patients than his appearance, isn't it? I think that Ozaki considers that as long as he's getting the job done, he's fine. He's met his mother's expectation of getting married, so he's fine.