I am friends with an alcoholic.
Mar. 14th, 2009 06:10 pmBut I can't win. I feel like I'm being siderailed when I hear stories about what Blake and Andrew or Andrew and Ariel or Blake and Ariel did since I don't get called or whatever to go out. Justin doesn't have the same problem I do, it's closer for him to get home and cheaper because he's in Saitama. It only costs him 210 each way; I pay 690. And then when they pull shit like this... as if they don't have a party every weekend anyway... and want me to go, I don't want to.
But I love how it's not even Andrew whining at me to come.
Whatever. I'm over it.
Lunch date went well. :) We had Thai for lunch and then went to this little Hawaiian cafe for coffee. He starts school again next week so... I don't know what's going to happen. I'm not going to worry about it... just see how things go. And not send inappropriate drunken emails like I did to Kohei who is probably never going to talk to me again. Oh well, he obviously wasn't that interested.
No I'm not over it. kjgadf I'm kind of pissed off now. And feeling guilty? Why should I feel guilty for wanting to spend time at home in my apartment and sleeping in my bed that I work hard (well, not really) to pay for. Why should I always have to go to Tokyo? You fuckers can't come to Chiba once in a while? tkyjedaff FUCKERS. I'm going to start keeping track of how much I spend to go to Tokyo. It would make more sense to move closer but I don't want to spend the time/money/effort moving for only 1 year. It would probably cost me even more to do that than I would be saving in train fare. I should have fucking looked at Senju to begin with but I'm stupid.
I'm still full from lunch so dinner will probably not happen until 8. I'm going to try steaming pork. I wanted to try making cinnamon mushi pan but I couldn't find cinnamon at the store and didn't want to go all the way to the real/better grocery. I'll pick some up tomorrow when I go to meet Tomoko at noon.
What a weekend
Mar. 1st, 2009 11:29 pmI spent Saturday being lazy and doing laundry and doing quiz things on Okcupid and then some guy messaged me and we started talking. He's going to work for Square Enix and just got to Japan on Friday and we ended up meeting up in Koenji. It was ... an interesting night. He was an... interesting guy. Not my type at all and I will probably avoid hanging out with him again. He wanted to check out some "underground" music there (which I didn't really clue into until later) and we spent an hour wandering around the dinky little streets trying to find this retarded club that we walked right past when we got there because it was so tiny. We ended up meeting some random foreigners on the street and drank with them. One guy actually graduated from UBC the same time I did with a major in History. Totally random.
I had to transfer at Takadanobaba to get home but I didn't really feel like going back because my night had been such a let down so I called Andrew. Blake, Keisuke and Justin were over and so we got more liqoured and went to Nichome. It was kind of a bust but we had fun. Felt like totally ass today and caught a cold from someone even though I only kissed Blake and he's fine. That's not cool. Then we stayed in and watched Star Trek and made cake today. We also did a little CSI experiment on Ben's bed and found a lot more than we really wanted to know. And it wasn't the sheets that were the problem. I just got home now...
This entry was a lot longer than I expected. After 3 attempts, I have now decided no more meeting people off the internet. Even as friends. There are just too many fucking weirdo losers out there and I don't need any more friends. I have great wonderful friends already.
Thank god I don't have classes tomorrow. Even though I still have to fucking go.
Ben and Takeshi broke up. D: Apparently Andrew says they have been broken up for a while in all but name. Since before he and Ben went to Thailand. I kind of had a feeling... but I didn't really think it would happen.
I'm pissed that my computer keeps freezing up if I pause video. I'm watching America's Best Dance Crew since Nep League isn't on tonight. Quest Crew! ♥
I will transcribe my Eq notes tonight. I will, I swear. It will make me feel better if i get it done.
Just finished the first volume of IWGP! I am getting pretty good at reading~ And remembering a few kanji that I have never been able to remember. It helps that I know the story already~
Ariel said "they" were planning to go out last night and of course I didn't get the email until 9pm. People were meeting at Hachiko at 10 and there was no way I was going to make it (I think I was in my pjs) and I didn't want to stay out all night so there was no point in going just for 1 hour. I had already done that once. Then I got an email from Blake today asking where I was last night and he told me about the shitshow that went down. It was supposed to be Shibuya and then people were late and it turned into Takanobaba and then it became Nichome... he also ran into his ex and proceeded to drown his sorrows in gin and didn't get home until 5pm today. And he lives in Shinjuku for fuck's sake! I almost feel like I missed a good night. Almost. The gays can't seem to make up their fucking minds in a timely fashion. Ever.
Ariel and Dan didn't even end up going to Nichome either. I wonder what they did instead.
At Book Off I found a Mr Kiasu comic book. I was so tempted to buy it for 150 yen but I don't want to start collecting books that I'm only going to have to get rid of because of the charges of shipping to Cananda. It made me think of Lydia and then, oh the irony! Tomoko tells me she's been posted to Singapore for 3 months! She'll be there from the beginning of April to July. It's her first time living overseas and she asked if I could give her some tips/pointers/advice. And introduce her to some of my friends who still live there. I'm thinking of Yukiko and Lydia. For some reason, I don't have a problem with introducing friends face-to-face but doing it online seems kind of strange to me. Do you think that's strange? I don't even know what kind of advice I could give her since I haven't lived there for 7 years.
Went to Monzennakacho with Andrew and Justin today. One of the oldest Hachiman temples in Tokyo is there and they have flea markets twice a month. I found a nice cream coloured obi for 1000 yen! I'm going to see about getting it dry cleaned and then figure out how to wear it. :/ I wonder what larger ladies have to do with kimono because even though they are supposedly "one size", they don't exactly fit if you are fuller figured. The pattern that's supposed to go in the center doesn't line up if you try and tie it the way I found online. I've still got to get a few more ties before I can wear my kimono properly. And an occasion to wear it!
Tomoko's party was really fun last night. I met a lot of really interesting people and even got the number of some guy. He goes to Reitaku University and looks like a cuter version of Atsushi from Exile. XD He said I should go to his university and meet people. Haha. Really nice, I hope we'll hang out again. I also met the infamous Haruhisa who Tomoko told me about but... he didn't do anything for me. Really good cook, though. Her friend Sho was hilarious. He's a grade 6 teacher in Kamagaya and we talked about elementary school English and I told him if he gets excited about English, the kids will follow suit. There were so many good moments. I really wish there had been some video. Haha.
I would rather be watching Voice (Eita! Toma!) but I paid for these DVDs. :/ Gotta watch them.
No new emails from K. He said he liked the picture I sent of the chocolate and that staying at my place isn't hard but he's really busy these days. Understandable. I put the ball in his court for that reason but it still makes me feel uneasy. Sigh.
Is it a guy thing? Or a gay thing?
Dec. 24th, 2008 12:40 pmLisa's in town and she's hanging out with Andrew (holy fuck, early much?). I'm suggesting dinner cuz I want to drop my bags off before doing anything and I also have to clean and shower and pack still. I could be done earlier but I'm reading and posting instead. Oops. Yeah. Well. I'm being a bit spiteful since no one can get their act together and make plans.
To do:
- Dishes
- Vacuum
- Make my bed
- Take out garbage
- Put away laundry
- Shower
- Pack overnight bag
Only in Japan
Nov. 30th, 2008 05:04 pmI actually made it up on time this morning to get to the speech contest which I had doubts about after falling alseep sometime around 3am. I guess I'll be fine when it's time to go back to school again. We only had two entries - a boy and a pair of girls from first year - entered since the one of the third year girls pulled out because she got some offer from Avex for dance apparently. Hell, I would too. And the other... because I thought there was two, I don't know what happened to her. It was interesting. The level of English was pretty standard across the board, except for the few kids you could tell lived overseas for a bit. I don't think Toyoshiki won any prizes but it was nice to support them and they saw me there so I hope they felt good with their performances.
Met Andrew in Harajuku and had a shopping day. I was kind of dreading going because I realized on the train that this is like my 5th time at Harajuku in the last month and I don't actually have a good time when I go there. Especially not in the summer when it's jammed with tourists and kids and stupid people who get in my way. To make matters worse, it was raining so the umbrellas hinder progress through the narrow Takeshita-doori. I managed to come away with some good buys - one impulse and one I've been looking to find for a while.
I got a new watch - a girly watch. It's got a small square face and a light green strap. What's interesting is that one band is twice as long as the other, so it wraps around my wrist once before tying. I saw someone wearing something like it on TV or on the train one day and I saw it and it was only 3000 yen so I splurged. I don't have a girly watch and I love green. The other thing I got was a new bag. I love messenger bags but the one i have is huge for my non-scholastic needs and even when I was in school, I hardly used it beause my books were too heavy. I found one that's a decent size (bigger than the one I have now) and a bit more "mature" looking than the one I have now. It's not a messenger per se, there's no flap over the zipper, but it's over the shoulder which is what I want so I have my hands free and don't have to worry about it going anywhere off my shoulder, and it was only 2000 yen. Andrew got a few shirts, pants, and a tie.
We went to see the Sex and the City movie and I don't know what everyone was going on about, but I liked it! I shed more than a few tears and appreciated Samantha's wonderful puns that were lost on majority of the Japanese audience. It was a nice add-on to the end of the series - not really necessary but nice to see how things have moved on down the line. And the pretty (heinous) outfits and shoes. If only I had that kind of money and determination to wear the shiny heels those girls did.
I got an idea for a drabble/fic thing on the way home and have started writing it out but I think I should turn in before it gets stupidly late again. I only have Keigo's lesson tomorrow but I should get the rest of this freaking laundry done and tidy up the house since I'll be out and about pretty solidly from Thursday on.
This is why I hate the gays sometimes.
Aug. 25th, 2008 11:11 amIf you're going to be all political and talk about being gay and making a statement and all that shit, get your fucking terms right.
Potato queen: a gay asian man who is predominantly attracted to white men.
Rice queen: a gay white man who is predominantly attracted to asian men.
Age has nothing to do with it! It's just the fact that you look twelve that people are taking the piss out of you. Ugh. I hate gay people sometimes.
Fireworks last night was kind of... good? Andrew and I wore our yukata (because we bought them) and went to Tamagawa for the fireworks. No one replied to Andrew's email (typical gay move) and the other person who was going to come bowed out because of the rain but they put on the show anyway. It was only misty last night. We went to Jeff and Hiroshi's and watched them from their living room, over the tops of the buildings from the first floor. It was a nice party and I saw some old friends and met some cool new people and played with the puppies! Made me really want a dog. One day... when they discover a cure for animal allergies. Everyone was taking our pictures because we outdid ALL the Japanese folks who just wore street clothes. I think there is a yukata themed party in the woodwork now. I hope I can get pictures from someone soon.
Today we just stayed in and vegged. Andrew studied, I played Zelda: Phantom Hourglass. XD I LOVE IT. I made myself put it down today because I'd already been playing it for about 2 hours today... I really want to play more right now but I won't. Gotta pace myself until I get a new game to play.
Finally got all the parts of Tensei Kunpu downloaded... FUCK that was a bitch and a half. The second act didn't join properly so I'm trying it again. All the parts are complete so it shouldn't have any problems. I now realize just how much I didn't understand when I watched it with chirusea_3. I should find a way to burn it to DVD (I wonder if it's too big of a file) and give a copy to Andrew so he can bask in Ohno's sweaty greatness. Watching Maou this week, I really noticed how much character Ryou actually has. At the end of the show he did a voice over spot for Truth and just talked in his normal voice and it was just so different. And he fucking mumbles like a beast when he is talking normally. Don't you think they would have beat that out of you at Johnny's Boot Camp for Young Boys? LOL
Tomorrow is Monday. A busy week ahead of me, believe it or not. I need to clean house terribly and if the weather cooperates, I can get some laundry done and shrink Andrew's shirts for him so I can return them on Tuesday. I also have to put in some manhours on OT5. It's in sore need of an update.
I tried making daizu gohan for dinner (doesn't go that well with curry -- too many different flavours) but can't find the recipe I got from the lunch lady at school so I looked up some online and kind of made it up. Not a failure but not as good as the school one. I'll have to try again with a different combo and not put the beans in the rice cooker; they don't need it.
I saw this today on
![[profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
I feel accompished! I feel like I have gotten some degree of success with my work now (especially since at least one writer who I love reads me now, and she even rec'd it for OT5 :D). I am indescribably happy (and proud of my efforts) but then you fall into a trap because you know you have the readers... but then why aren't you getting the feedback? Ugh. I need to try not to think about it. It's not important. I feel like I'm finally making headway with Equilibrium; we're definitely past the halfway point now. I wonder if I could get it finished before year end? I should also probably pull out of this fic challenge I signed up for eons ago and haven't given two seconds thought to since.
Arashi: Japan's Hottest GLBT Advocates
Aug. 21st, 2008 10:58 pmNow for a little vocabulary lesson because who actually knows what all those letters in the GLBTTQQIA* acronym actually mean? I do. Here's what you would learn if you went to our workshop!
Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual... these terms define your sexual orientation. Who do you like to sleep with? People choose them based on their gender.
Straight: people who have relationships and sex with people of the opposite sex: boys with girls, girls with boys. Also known as heterosexual and, in most uptight conservative circles, the "normal" sexual orientation, which is here the term heteronormative comes from -- the assumption that everyone is, or should be, straight.
Gay: technically men who choose to have relationships and sex with men. It can be and is used as an umbrella term for people who have same-sex relations (for both men and women).
Lesbian: women who sleep with women. Comes from a the Greek isle of Lesbos where the homosexual poet Saphos lived with other women.
Bisexual: people who have relations with both men and women, both the same and opposite sex.
Transgender: when the state of one's "gender idenity" (self-identification as man, woman or other) does not match one's "assigned sex" (your physical sexual characteristics). The term doesn't encompass anything to do with your sexual orientation (i.e. who you want to sleep with).
Transsexual: a person who identifies as, or desires to live and be accepted as, a member of the sex opposite to that assigned at birth. Transsexual people can sort of be lumped into "pre-" and "post-operative" camps but after surgery most will just choose to identify as their chosen gender.
I still get confused as to which term to use...they are pretty fluid and very, very similar. I think a good guideline is those who have or plan to transition genders are transsexual while those who just believe themselves to have differing gender identities and physical characteristics are transgender.
And now an embarrassing picture: a queer boy in his natural habitat, protesting GAP (Genocide Awareness Project) on UBC Campus.
Questioning: pretty self-explanitory. You're not sure what your gender/sexual identity is and are working it out.
Intersex: the 20th century term for people born with ambiguous genitalia, or characteristics that don't fit into the cookie-cutter "male" or "female" catergories. It used to be common practice for the doctor to look at a baby and give a best-guess at to what the baby should be and operate, sometimes without parental permission. This, more often than not, caused problems for the child later in life if the chosen gender did not match their gender idenity. The new line of thought is to leave the child alone and they will show their indentity as they grow up and can choose for themselves whether or not to have surgery.
Ally: people who support GLBT folks who don't identify as GLBT themselves.
*: the acronym keeps changing so some places just use the first 4 letters and *. It's kind of ridiculous. XD
How do you be a good ally? Reflect a persons language: if they identify as gay, use gay. If they identify is intersex, use intersex. If they don't indenify themselves... just ask. Rather be a little awkward and ask, "What word should I use?" than be an ignorant douche. You can be really aggressively active and speak up when you hear people using "gay" as a synonym for "stupid" and march in parades and fundraise and all that noise. You can also be passive and do small things like wear a pin that says "ally" or have a rainbow stripe on your car.
I hope you learned something! :D
My other half.
Jul. 18th, 2008 11:09 pmI just watched Maou and :O Shocking! So many hidden relations come to the surface! There wasn't anything I was totally lost on this time, I'm impressed. :) Although... there were defintely a few "ugly" shots of Oh-chan. Sweetie, enough already with the tanning. You used to have such nice skin! Some of the nicest out of all of you. Darker hair is supposed to make you look paler, not darker.
Himitsu was a bust last night. I'm so over this Age age thing they keep doing. UNLESS they do an Age age mori mori whatever makeover to Ohno... >3 But that's just cruel and unusual. His (appropriate) response of "OHHELLSNO" was quite amusing. And Jun got rid of his poodle perm. It's more along the lines of his Bambino hair which is my favourite for him (because it's the most normal?). It clicked that it's because he's filming the 24hr TV drama special right now when I saw the Zoom In clip. Ahhh Karina. Those two are so cute together. They would have beautiful babies. Not as cute and round-faced as Sho and Hikaru, but attractive nonetheless.
I only got around to doing one load laundry but it was so muggy today that it's still wet, and it was only shirts. I didn't clean the bathroom yet... I found mold all along the bottom of my shower curtain this morning! I wonder if I should just get rid of the whole thing. :/ That might keep the drain in the floor cleaner if it has water going in it from the shower... but without the curtain the whole bathroom gets wet. Tough decisions...
I totally forgot that Justin and I were going to go to Enoshima this weekend... so we rescheduled. I'll be able to chill out and clean up and wind down during the week and then we can go be tourists next weekend. I also need to make a point of going to the library and seeing if they have anything in English (or Chinese?) and sell some books to Book Off and maybe buy some more. I've got 1 book to read now, "A Short History of Nearly Everything" by Bill Bryson but that won't last me very long. I seem to have accumuated quite a few books and though I like to keep them as trophies... I should sell them. I can always get them again back home. It'll be a little extra money in my pocket. I should check out the community centre and see if there are any classes or activities to do to keep busy and maybe learn something and get out of the house this summer. Nahhhhh.
Will write more of Chapter 7 tomorrow!
Summer is here.
Jul. 6th, 2008 01:14 amI went on another drinking/spending binge this weekend too. This week. I spent 10,000 on Monday when I went to Aeon... then I spent about 7,000 last night on drinking. We had a work drinking party/dinner at this nice restuarant/izakaya in Kashiwa near the station. I was hoping Watanabe-sensei would come because I'm bored of the other two younger teachers (and I don't think Tamaya-sensei is actually that young... and Ohkuro-sensei is boring) but he didn't. Afterwards we had an after party; we went to karaoke as usual. I was a bit pissed because we went to Shidax and they are fucking expensive. Plus they were all ordering food as well... I ate a bit but not much and only had 2 beers... not really worth 3,400 yen even for 2 hours to karaoke. Miyoshi-sensei... god I love him. He reminds me a bit of my dad for some reason. He's just so... jolly. Even when he's yelling at the students to shut up in the hallway he makes me smile. When we left the restuarant he says, "Okay, where are we going now? Karaoke? Heather, you're coming." HAHA.. I was going anyway... but it seems I've made a name for myself as a party girl and karaoke queen. Everyone sang a few (the only person to rival me was Miyoshi-sensei) and I whipped out my 18-ban because they wanted me to sing a Japanese song. So I sang Sakura sake (of course it was Arashi!) and got a great round of applause afterwards.
I met Taka after the afterparty for more drinks. He said he would be heading back to his parents house and stop in Kashiwa for drinks that night and we would see how our schedules matched because I didn't know what was happening after my nomikai but he was in Ueno just as we finished karaoke so he came out and we had a few drinks at the Hub before they closed. Then we had street ramen and went back to my place and crashed. Ahhh if only he was single.....
We farted around in the morning, watched TV, got some lunch, I did laundry and then we left. He went to buy some fresh clothes and go to his parent's place and I went to Abiko to get my hair cut. I think I met the infamous Kenji because he asked if I was Amanda's friend. He's is amazing. I love my haircut. :D It's pretty much the same but he put loads of layers in the back while keeping the length so I can make it messy and flippy now and the front curls on its own now. And my fringe is fixed. I even got a free mirror as a gift for coming back to the store three times. Next time I go, I get an official member's card. Haha.. what service. Does that mean I get offered coffee when I go next time?
Dan's farewell party was tonight. A bunch of people just came to Ben's place and had some food and drinks and then we went to karaoke. Another unsatisfactory karaoke experience... I really don't like going with lots of people because I like singing so I don't feel like I get my money's worth. 1060 yen for an hour without booze. Karaoke-kan is also expensive. And they we pissing me off at the end because everyone was standing around with their thumbs up their asses when we were leaving. I was getting quite frustrated because I hate leaving it until the last train. It makes me anxious. Anyway... it was fun but hot as fuck. They only have 2 aircons, one in each bedroom and even though we had the windows closed the cool air didn't go outside Ben's room at all. It might have had something to do with the twelve-odd people in the room as well...
Ahhh so finally I'm home. I didn't drink much today because I couldn't take it in the heat. It just made me feel sick. I am almost done my sports drink and the room is nice and cool now so I'll be able to sleep. It's supposed to be cloudy and shitty so that means it's going to be humid as fuck. I have a load of laundry to do and I should take a stab at writing more of this chapter. I am in the process of downloading Maou so I can watch it and see what everyone is raving about. I can't wait for subs eventhough I'm sure they'll be out by broadcast next week.
God I fucking stink. To shower or not to shower? That is the question. I am extremely low on bodysoap so... it'll just be a bit of a rinse. I should blog about Tanabata for the family tomorrow as well.
TO DO
Write
Grocery shop?
Email Mom
Email Alison
Clean the bathroom (ahhh I really don't want toooooo)
Clean the washing machine
I hate academia.
Jun. 20th, 2008 07:25 amScans see 'gay brain differences'
![]() The study suggests sexual orientation may be set in the womb |
The brains of gay men and women look like those found in heterosexual people of the opposite sex, research suggests.
The Swedish study, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences journal, compared the size of the brain's halves in 90 adults.
Gay men and heterosexual women had halves of a similar size, while the right side was bigger in lesbian women and heterosexual men.
A UK scientist said this was evidence sexual orientation was set in the womb.
All I can say is: WHAT THE SHIT. Are we still riding on this bandwagon? I actually didn't even read the whole fucking article cuz it's such bullshit. I fucking hate how people with expensive pieces of paper get license to freely wank on ad nauseum about the same shit over and over. And now I'm in a not-so-genki mood and I have to teach five classes of 5th graders today. The same shit... over and over.... At least it's still the preposition worksheet so I don't have to stand up there and talk for 45 mins; only 20.
As far as I'm concerned there is no argument any more - if you are gay, you are born gay
Dr Qazi Rahman
Queen Mary, University of LondonScientists have noticed for some time that homosexual people of both sexes have differences in certain cognitive abilities, suggesting there may be subtle differences in their brain structure.
This is the first time, however, that scientists have used brain scanners to try to look for the source of those differences.
A group of 90 healthy gay and heterosexual adults, men and women, were scanned by the Karolinska Institute scientists to measure the volume of both sides, or hemispheres, of their brain.
When these results were collected, it was found that lesbians and heterosexual men shared a particular "asymmetry" in their hemisphere size, while heterosexual women and gay men had no difference between the size of the different halves of their brain.
In other words, structurally, at least, the brains of gay men were more like heterosexual women, and gay women more like heterosexual men.
A further experiment found that in one particular area of the brain, the amygdala, there were other significant differences.
In heterosexual men and gay women, there were more nerve "connections" in the right side of the amygdala, compared with the left.
The reverse, with more neural connections in the left amygdala, was the case in homosexual men and heterosexual women.
The Karolinska team said that these differences could not be mainly explained by "learned" effects, but needed another mechanism to set them, either before or after birth.
'Fight, flight or mate'
Dr Qazi Rahman, a lecturer in cognitive biology at Queen Mary, University of London, said that he believed that these brain differences were laid down early in foetal development.
"As far as I'm concerned there is no argument any more - if you are gay, you are born gay," he said.
The amygdala, he said, was important because of its role in "orientating", or directing, the rest of the brain in response to an emotional stimulus - be it during the "fight or flight" response, or the presence of a potential mate.
"In other words, the brain network which determines what sexual orientation actually 'orients' towards is similar between gay men and straight women, and between gay women and straight men.
"This makes sense given that gay men have a sexual preference which is like that of women in general, that is, preferring men, and vice versa for lesbian women."
I wonder if my neighbours can hear me
Jun. 12th, 2008 10:52 pmI thought it was going to be another bum episode when Aiba came out with his Ageha segment again but it got a bit better when Jun jumped on the bandwagon and they took this fucking scary chick from Yamaguchi-ken dressed up like Princess Barbie around Tokyo. I will never ever understand Gal fashion and the amount of money you can (and inevitably will) spend on things. Although you can get your DS pretty tricked out with bling for a couple hundred bucks.
AND THEN. XDDD Sho and Ohno went and got certified to be child minders. Certified. They went and took the course and the test and got a certificate stamped and sealed with their names on it. I'm impressed. Sho and kids is seriously the cutest thing I have seen ever. They went to the house of this actress (I think... she's in the entertainment world some how) and took care of their nearly-2-year-old daughter for the afternoon. I don't know who was cuter, little Koharu or the boys. I didn't really see Ohno do much, but damn, Sho has a way with kids. It makes me wish I had been able to babysit more cuz I do actually like kids and can handle them well. I should tell the elementary school I want to do some art classes with the kids and not pack my schedule so tight next semester. :D I want them to teach me calligraphy!
Another one to download for the collection.
Speaking of Ohno doing nothing... I watched the Johnny's Sports Festival 2003 today and got the urge to run around and get sweaty. It's been 2 months since I went running, that one time. I want to go again! I should go and splurge on some Uniqlo shorts because running in sweats (even cut offs) in this heat and humidity is a death wish. I was a bit disappointed because even Sho, the sports retard, scored a few goals in the soccer game but I didn't see Ohno do anything. Except for make weird faces at the camera in the background. That takes effort too, I guess. It happened in October (around the Health and Sports Day holiday, I guess?) so I should keep an eye out for that and try to go this year. :D And also look into some Reysol or Giants or Tigers tickets. I should organize that with Nikki and Amanda. That would be so fun! And I hardly ever see them anymore...
I need to stop watching Himitsu on TV because, as wicked as it is that I can post a recap of it right away, it gets me pumped and buzzed on the sheer stupidity and rainbows so that makes it hard to fall asleep. I wanted to write a bit but it's already 11 and I may or may not go out with Chelsea tomorrow so I should get rest. Also going to see Andrew's host brother play a gig on Saturday and I need to make some room to study. Yes, that's right. I said "study". The Kanji Kanken is in 2 weeks and though I am quite impressed with what I do know, there's a shitload that I don't and I need to practice. If I flunk, it was only 1500 yen, but I have only ever failed one test in my whole life (grade 7 math?) and I kind of want to keep it that way. Andrew and Ben planned their official housewarming for the day before... I'm not sure Andrew realized or not.
Finished JPod. Go read it. Now. Srs.
Giant Bitch-slap in the Face
Apr. 27th, 2008 08:13 amOh, that's right. Because Shinya, who can't hold his alcohol to save his life and drinks so much that he becomes a pseudo-straight emotionally dependent child, crawled into MY bed at 6-goddamn-o'clock this morning and started snoring in my ear. I pushed, I poked, I shook, I fucking yelled at him in my best stage whisper to roll over or SOMETHING to SHUT THE FUCK UP but to no avail. I physically rotated this man myself and he didn't wake up. Either he was still drunk as, or he sleeps like the dead. If I did wake him up, I don't feel bad because it wasn't so pleasant having a cold body (I guess he didn't share so well with Benben) crawl into my warm coccoon and shock me awake.
Wow, did that sound bitchy?
Maybe. Just a little.
My well of writing-desire seems to have dried up. Well, the desire is there, the motivation is not. Despite all the wonderful comments, it doesn't bring me to write anything. I want to write some of these prompts that I've had for weeks now, but nothing comes when I want to start. Honooko posted a new chapter so I'm going to read that this morning and maybe it'll inspire me with something. I'm going to work on a few more songs too until I'm tired and then take a nap. It's a disgusting wet day so I can't do laundry even if I wanted to. I could clean but I don't want to. I really don't want to do anything. I'll translate a bit, watch some of these shows that are queued up on my computer and sleep.
That sounds like a great idea.
Less groggy/cranky update about the pimpin' karaoke bar we went to last night later.
All good things must come to an end unfortunately. I've done nothing but max out since New Years and I love it. Hung out with Andrew, helped Justin move to Saitama, did a bit of shopping, watched a bunch of movies and season one of CSI: Miami. Rather productive I'd say.
I got my hair cut today, starting the new year off with a fresh look. Well, not really. It's nearly the same, just cleaned up the layers and fixed the fridge. Growing it out is a PAIN. I wish I hadn't cut it in July... Big regret. It's slowly getting back to something managable.
Apart from being a completely lazy ass this last week, Andrew's old roommate Carla stopped through Narita on her way back to Canada from a wedding in Australia. She flew JAL and had a 23 hr layover initially but they wanted to change it, so they put her up in a hotel overnight. Andrew and I went out to Narita and had a hotel party with Carla! It was like a time slip, because she was staying at the Nikko Narita Hotel which is the same place that my family stayed when we first flew over to Singapore and transited through Narita. I hardly remember it: I vaguely recall a white marble lobby and the restaurant we ate breakfast in. So I didn't have any big nostaglic feelings when we got off the shuttle bus from the airport. And they did a lot of work on the place in the last 15 years, I'm sure. But it was fun hanging out with Carla again. We raided the convenience stores and ate ramen for dinner. We got stupidly drunk, watched Captain Planet (thanks to Andrew) and took retarded pictures in the hotel in the middle of the night. Also managed to bust my camera lens, so thats in the shop for repairs. Nothing serious, just jammed the lens when I dropped it on the floor of the elevator. Lucky its still under warranty.
Finally heard from Tatsuya about what I'm supposed to do at the elementary schools. Nothing epic, and I could have decided that myself. "Introduction about yourself, songs and daily conversation." BORING. But I'm still pissed off because I was supposed to know this before holidays. Well, they're letting me knock off from JH early tomorrow to go over to the elementary school to "meet" with them about my lessons. UGH. Whatever, it'll be over in 2 weeks.
Hopefully, I will be able to sleep at a reasonable hour tonight. I managed to get myself up at 10am this morning but I'm feeling energized for some reason. I'm doing nothing exciting. Maybe I'm excited to go back to work?? :O Shocking!!Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good night. Seeing as how Christmas is nearly over for me, I should update before my time runs out.
I can't believe I've neglected my blog for such a long time! Things have been both busy and boring at the same time. I was teaching full-time up until last Thursday, and then have been entertaining a house guest until today and celebrating Christmas in pseudo-Japanese fashion.
Things haven't been so fluffy and lovely lately, unfortunately. My culture shock has finally decided to rear its ugly head. I've been slowly setting up my place and getting things organized in terms of utilities and payments and such. I thought I was such a clever bastard for doing the fuikomi (electronic transfer) for December's rent by myself but I laughed too soon. A few weeks ago, I got a call from the rental company (I only presumed) saying that they hadn't recieved my payment. I haven't been so frustrated since I came to Japan; I could understand the gist of what this guy was saying to me, but didn't have the vocabulary and language skills to defend myself and speak to this guy. I proceeded to collapse on the floor after the call and bawl my eyes out. In addition to that, I couldn't pay my phone bill because my bank doesn't pay bills, and I can't get to a bank or post office before they close for the day after work. Things that aren't even major were pissing me off, and still are. As Andrew and Yvonne put it, I have become one of those jaded, bitter gaijin. We have fun gaijin rants quite freqently. Anyway, finally got that sorted and transfered my rent today for December and direct withdrawl will start next month for the month of February. The woman I've been doing all my dealings with is so nice. She sent me a letter today, which I suspect was hand delivered to my mailbox, saying that I have to furikomi my rent this month, with furigana and a crude, handwritten translation in English. Yvonne was there to help me transfer, and I thought that it was only 42,000 yen, but its supposed to be 42,500. I hope they won't be too picky about 5$ and I'll just add it on next time.
I was finally paid for the first time in two months and it's such a relief. Money is still tight, but things are getting back to normal. Work is great and I'm really starting to feel at home. We had our bonenkai (Year End Party) on Friday night at a little restaurant in Kashiwa (a branch of the same place we held Christian's farewell party) followed by karaoke, of course. It was nice to relax and socialize with the teachers, who I don't normally have a chance to talk to at work. I was sat at the same table as the principal, Mr. Iwahara, the music teacher, Ms. Fujiwara, and few other teachers. The table next to us had Mr Nakamura and Ms Imai, two of the English teachers so I had some translators on hand. I also got out my handy mobile phone dictionary but managed to hold my own pretty well in broken Japanese and English. I also had a good conversation with the 1st year PE teacher, who is moving to a high school in Tokyo next school year. Everyone embraced me warmly and I had a great time. I even exchanged numbers with some of the female teachers and we'll go drinking together in the New Year. I was also invited on a ski trip over the February holiday weekend, which I agreed to. Although, I don't know if I will end up going... I can't ski, for one. I don't have the right clothes, secondly. I really wish I had brought my ski jacket now. UGH! Hindsight is 20/20, isn't it. What a pain! Andrew and I are thinking we might go visit Yvonne in Nagoya that weekend, since she's come to see us every month since October.
The day after the bonenkai, Yvonne came to spend Christmas. She helped me do errands and sort out house-related stuff. We shopped, we ate, we ranted, we sang karaoke. Monday was our big Christmas party. Christmas Eve is like Valentines day in Japan, so Yvonne and I rode the train out with couples galore to Odaiba, the big date spot in Tokyo. Andrew and I have been talking about Christmas and our "White Christmas" party for ages, and he actually procured a turkey in Tokyo. I never thought we'd find one, let alone get one, but we did. It was a pain in the ass, and I'm never doing it again. Murphy's law prevailed, of course. Andrew's building has units that have their own kitchens, but in the other building, they don't so there are communal kitchens on each floor that have ovens. So the plan was to break in and use an oven to cook the turkey. Things started off well enough when we timed out entry just right, and got in without having to wait. We got off at the 6th floor, and people were in the kitchen so we went up to 7 and found it empty. We got the bird and stuffing ready and fired up the oven which had probably never been cleaned. Ever. The kitchen was a disaster. I though that the Totem floor lounges were disgusting. Anyway, we got the bird in.. and I went to check it and take out the gizzard and stuff after an hour and found the oven had turned off! First emergency. It took forever to heat back up again since the thing was so tiny and the turkey took up 80% of the space inside. In the meantime, I cooked the potatoes and carrots to heat up in the microwave later. Andrew and Yvonne had to make an emergency grocery run to get ingredients to make pumpkin pie while I held down the fort. A few people came in to cook their lunches and gave me the 3rd degree which made me feel really uncomfortable. I thought one of them might be an RA come to kick me out, but that wasn't the case. Long story short, 5 hours later, the turkey was done. I didn't think we'd pull it off but we did. Dinner was served at 7pm, and we stuffed our faces with good food and drink.
Today, Yvonne and I procured a rice cooker for me and discovered a great Singaporean Hainan chicken restaurant in Shimbashi. It was heavenly. Tasted JUST like jifan (chicken rice) back in Singapore. It is one for the books and I will return many a time before I leave Japan. Sent Yvonne off from Tokyo station and hunted for a book with Andrew throughout Ueno, with no success. We saw people pulling down all the Christmas decorations already and Christmas isn't even officially over yet. Tomorrow, everything will be replaced with New Year decorations and the big push to finish everything before the year ends will begin. I need to clean up my house, settle all my bills, and figure out where I am going to hatsumode on January 1st. Hatsumode is the first visit to the shrine in the new year. There is a big shrine in Kashiwa on the other side of the station but I have a feeling I'm going to get a call from Yoshimi or Mr Nakamura asking me to go with them.
Anyway, I hope you all had a fattening and festive holiday!