Trip to Mito

Mito was fun. :D  There wasn't really much to see... it's a city just like anywhere else in Japan but the ride out was nice.  Mito is the capital of Ibaraki prefecture so it's mostly an administrative city.  I think Ibaraki is known for it's agriculture because there were lots of farms and crops along the train tracks.  It looked like it was threatening to rain but it was faster than me so it was finished by the time I got to Mito.

I did a little bit of research to find out what there was to do in Mito before I left and so I went out and found a map and looked at the area.  On of Japan's three best gardens are in Mito but I didn't know how far away they were so I had to check it out.  There was a map that showed some walking courses you could take so I went and found the Mito Castle Ruins one and followed that.  It took me an hour or so to finish it because I stopped to read everything!

Mito used to be a Tokugawa stronghold of the Mito clan way back in the day so there were statues and memorials for all these Tokugawa people all over the city.  This is grave of one of the Tokugawa's but I couldn't read which one.  It's just sitting there on the side of the road next to a parking lot.  I walked up the hill afterwards to find the ruins of Mito Castle but there aren't any ruins left.  It's all been constructed over with schools so there were just signs about what used to be there.

When I was stopped to read a sign about the Ohtemon Gate of Mito Castle that used to stand over this bridge, some old grandpa came up and talked to me!  He asked where I lived (assuming I didn't live in Japan, I guess) and he told me that the gate used to be right where we stood and now it's at the other end of the road in the teacher's college and he goes there to see it sometimes.  And then just walked off... hahaha.  I love old people sometimes.

This gingko tree (or maidenhair in English) is at one end of the historical walking route and there are references to this tree in some documents from three hundred years ago.  It's one of the historical points of Mito city.

This is Mito Art Tower.  It's part of a complex that contains a theatre, art gallery and exhibition space that was built in 1990.  It's the most modern looking thing around and they built it to make Mito a "modern city".  There was a patch of nice green grass out front with families playing on it with their kids.

I walked a LOT that day... I stopped in a bookstore to buy a map book because it was hard to follow on the pictures I took of the big map at the station which proved to be really helpful!  I'm going to get a lot of use out of it since it has some maps of Chiba as well.  I walked down one of the main roads with lots of shops, old and new.  A lot of the older ones were closed though, it was getting late and also Sunday.  I walked 2km to the gardens but then it was already 5pm by that time... I wandered around the famous gardens for a bit but wasn't that impressed.  It should be much better then the plum forest is in bloom.  Then I took the bus back to the station and took the train for 2.5 hours back to Kashiwa.

The rest of my pictures are on Photobucket.

I've written 334 words: Break Time

I am determined to finish this fucking fic before Shukudai-kun comes on. I WILL DO IT. I have 3 hours to finish. Things are heating up and starting to move along on their own so it shouldn't take much more. Being stupid me, I decide to stop and do a meme instead. The dishes also should get done too. I made some DELISH dinner tonight. Very simple but still took ages becuase I only have 1 fucking burner and that is the bane of my existence.

Sometimes it's okay to pimp yourself out. Post a list of your top five fics favorite you've written, regardless of fandom or the reason you love them. This isn't about the BEST things you've written, but what you LOVE most. Then tag five other people to do the same.

1. Captivation; Perfection. (Ohno/Sho)  This is the most recent thing I've written, and I usually love those most but this is just... guh.  I think the pinacle of my craftsmanship as a writer.  If I go back and reread things, I usually find stuff I hate and want to change but I don't with this.  There seems to be a bit of a gap between the first and second paragraphs and it kind of just ends but other than that, I am close to saying this is perfect.  And I am such a disgusting hopeless romantic.

2. Anger Management (Aizawa/Hiyama)  My first straight porn!  It has a special place in my heart for that reason and it turns me on when I read it.  Do I need any other reasons to love it?  Oh, it's Yamapi.  Enough said.  Let your imaginations run wild!

3. Your Love Song (Aiba/Sho)  I cried when I wrote this.  It just came from somewhere and was scarily easy to write.  Sakuraiba is my OTP but I have a sore spot for realism.  And being all up in the gay community for so long I've seen people take shit from their friends and families for this very (or something similar) thing.  I thought I got the emotions down pretty close.

4. Mile High (Ohno/Nino)  The first full on porn I ever wrote.  And yes, I did research for it.  I have been reading porn for a long time and I finally got the guts to write some myself and it's all gone downhill from there.  I enjoy this immensely everytime I read it.  And I can't believe I had never (and still haven't) come across airplane!porn before I wrote this. 

5. 3:21 (Aiba/Sho)  Wrote this for sanctified_x and I can never get tired of reading it.  It's complete PWP but who cares?  I read this at work quite often.  I don't know what it is... maybe because it's quick and to the point (oh puns) and has the right amount of fluff involved.  Sigh~

Tagging: waxrose, trivialaffair, sanctified_x, andersenmom, ... anyone who wants to do it?

Back to work!

So much for that...

So, I didn't get anywhere to close to finishing.  :/  I have classes from 1st to 4th period tomorrow so I doubt I'd be able to do any writing until after lunch but that depends if they have stuff for me to do (hopefully not...).  I won't even have time to clean off all the crap they've piled on my desk until then!  But maybe they'll just tell me not to come anyway because it's their first lessons back?  Ugh.  3 lessons back-to-back with Kaneko-sensei... This is going to be interesting.

Ugh.  Need to put this fic down for a while.  It's going well, but I'm not enjoying writing it like I should.  I got out the lines I had stored in the back of my head at least... We'll see what I can manage tomorrow.  I wanted to stay up for Shukudai but I'm ready to drop off.  I should try and sleep now since if I stay up a bit more, I won't sleep til 4am.  Even though I was tired last night but was awake for a long time after going to bed.  So much for the dishes.