Get Fuzzy

I don't have long to make a huge post but I will do that a little later. I just thought this comic was pretty funny and that I would share it with you!

Potluck

Today was had a potluck at Horizon Setagaya where I do worship. There was some seriously good food there. Kimi and I made fried rice. Good times.

You Crazy Kids

I found this video on YouTube while looking for Kelly Clarkson songs. I really like her. Anyway, this video is pretty funny. I would almost venture say that it's hilarious, but I wouldn't want to get your hopes up and then have you think its lame or something.

Regina Spektor

Matt introduced me to a new artist today, Regina Spektor. I like her style and her voice. This is a great video too. Even if you don't like the song, the end of the video is worth watching it.

Shinjuku on a Saturday

Today Kimi and I met up with Matt in Shinjuku. First we went to Sekaido, the art store and then to Wendy's for lunch. We walked over to the Krispy Kreme but it was CRAZY crowded and the line was about an hour and a half wait so we decided to go to Mister Donut instead. There wasn't anywhere to sit there either so we went to Starbucks and had coffee and donuts, outside! But it was still daytime and it was rather warm today as has been the trend for the past two days. Hopefully that keeps up.

Anyway, we started planning a road trip in May so that we can visit each others cities and families. It will be loads of fun and we're trying to make it as cheap as possible while still getting the most out of it that we can. It'll be fun.

Here is a little slide show of the day. Shinjuku is quite an interesting city with a lot of different areas and people. I would have more pictures but my computer, and/or I, is being retarded and I lost some the pictures somehow. Here it is, or what's left of it. =D

Bizarro

I thought this was pretty funny. I think Daddy will like this one a lot.

Post Office Blues

On Tuesday I came home to discover that the mail man had tried to deliver two packages to me but was unable to do so because no one was home to receive said packages. I was thrilled knowing that my new DVD of a Japanese drama, Suppli, and my new book for Greek and Roman Mythology, The Universe, the Gods and Men by Jean-Pierre Vernant, would soon be in my hands so that I could enjoy them thoroughly. I was eventually able to call the post office's English help number and instructed the nice man on the phone to have the packages delivered the next day, Wednesday, between the hours of 5 and 7pm. The packages were delivered on time and I couldn't have been happier.

At 7:30pm Kimi and I went to Jeremiah and Geigy's house for the Wednesday Night Bible Study which was a lot of fun as usual. Afterwards we were sitting around talking and at 11pm the phone rang. We were completely shocked and were wondering who would be calling at such an hour. Luckily we had Isaac there to translate for us and we found out that the mail man was calling about my packages. Apparently one or both of the packages required a signature that the mail man failed to get from me upon deliver and that he wanted to come to my home to get my signature. He wanted to come to my house at 11 o'clock at night to get my signature for a package, my signature! I was totally amazed. Of course I was said, "No way! It's 11 o'clock at night! Tell them they can come tomorrow and no earlier then 10:30am!". We were in a state of shock for quite a while and had a good discussion about it. On the one hand its nice to know that they are working that late and if I ever needed them but on the other hand, they called at 11pm, 11pm! Crazy country...

にほんご！

I got the Japanese language bar to work on my computer! Grant it I never really tried before but it works and its cool! If you can't view the characters then I must say, すみません、I am sorry. If you couldn't read them anyway then it doesn't really matter now does it? Sorry, I'm still mad about that Law & Order business...

I must say ありがとう　ございます　マシューさん！ Arigatou gozaimasu Mashu-san! Thank you Matt! *Phew, what a lot of translating...* For helping me get it to work. And now I will give a short Japanese lesson, because I can!

おはいよおございます：Ohaiyoogozaimasu, Good morning
こんいちは：Konnichiwa, Good afternoon or Hello
こんばんは：Konbanwa, Good evening
すみません：Sumimasen, Excuse me or I'm sorry
トイレはどこですか。：Toire wa doko desuka. Where is the bathroom?

And those are the main phrases anyone should know when going to a foreign country so there they are. If you ever plan on coming to Japan then I suggest memorizing these. If not, then do it anyway because knowing even a few words in a foreign language will benefit you and others eventually! =D

NNNNNNNNNOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

NNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! They deleted ALL of the Law & Order: SVU episodes from YouTube and are preventing any further episodes from being uploaded! NNNNNNNNNNNOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Life as we know it is coming to an end! I need to go put on my all black outfit and my veil and mourn the loss of my favorite show in the whole world. *weep* : (

On the bright side I got to have beanie weenies for dinner. That makes it a little better but I'm still sad. *sigh*

NNNNNNNNNNNNNOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Koto Performance

Here's the video of the lady playing the koto. It's pretty cool. See the post below for details.

Click To Play

This is a Japanese women playing the Koto. This song is called Sakura. A very famous song in Japan and abroad that is said to be about Japan's soul itself. It's a beautiful song.

Pacific Culture Club and Ichira Ramen

Oh my goodness, yesterday was so much fun! I went on a school trip to the Pacific Culture Club that is held at a Japanese womens home. She played the koto for us (I'll post some videos), dressed some girls from the group in kimono, taught us calligraphy and did a tea ceremony for us. It was a lot of fun.

After that about seven of us girls headed to an onsen (hot spring) in Mitaka. It was amazing. I've been to public baths before which are nice but this was a natural hot spring where the water is full of minerals that make your skin really soft. After we all got over the awkwardness of being totally naked in front of complete strangers we had a great time. It was so relaxing and nice. They had six different types of baths to go including one that shocked you when you touched a particular part of the wall. Supposedly its good for your back. I don't know, it felt really weird any everyones first reaction was funny to watch. It was pretty funny because the water is the brown color of iodine and it was a little salty. One of the girls, Megan, said it was like bathing in soy sauce! We all had a good laugh at that one.

I made friends with two of the new study abroad students, Megan and Barbara so after the onsen we went to Shibuya for dinner. First we went to Tower Records where they have the English/Import bookstore where I bought a book on The Rape of Nanking by Iris Chang. It looks rather disturbing but only because its historically accurate so I think it will be very informative and eye-opening. Yasuka, one of the leaders of the trip, told us about a ramen place next to Tower Records called Ichira Ramen. We found it and were first a little sceptical because all they had was a machine to buy your ramen ticket and then a line to get in. But we bought our tickets and waited in line only to discover that they had a special sheet that you filled out to specify exactly how you wanted your ramen from the strength of the broth to the tecture of the noodles to the fat content, you decide everything. It was pretty awesome. Once there were seats available, as displayed by the blinking sign indicating which tables were open, we went in and sat down. The "booth" looked a whole lot like a testing center were we used to have to put up those three-sided cardboard things. The hands took our order sheet and brought back the ramen within a matter of maybe 2 minutes and we were off to eating. The ramen was so good! It was probably the best ramen I ahe ever had in my life and that is no exaggeration. Everyone who visits Tokyo must go to Ichira Ramen in Shibuya. It is the best I have eaten. Man, that stuff was good.

After the delicious ramen we took a trip to Haagen Dazs and got some over priced but yummy ice cream and then went to Starbucks for some more over priced but delicious treats and then we parted ways and headed home. I got on the wrong train line and had to turn around but it was okay. I still got home by midnight-ish.

Those were some seriously good times. I will definitely be going back to the onsen (Megan, Barbara and I decided at least once a month) and to Ichira Ramen any chance I can get. Good times. Crazy good times.

Let it Snow!

Yeah! It snowed yesterday! Well, it was more of a flurry but its close enough. I tried to take pictures but you can't see the snow so I added a little effect to make it easier to see. ; )

Monkey!

I totally forgot to put the pic of the monkey in the bathroom in the slide show! I am ashamed. : (

Apartment Pictures

Finally decided to buy some batteries so now I can use my camera and I took some pictures of the apartment and used the cool new setting on Slide.com called the Revolver. Oohhh... 0.o

Counter Codes

This is pretty cool. Kimi sent me a link to StatCounter where I set up a counter that will, not only count how many people view my blog, it will also show me what country/state they are viewing from. It's pretty cool because sometimes random people view your blog and its interesting to see where they are from. Like Kimi had someone view her blog today from Israel. I think that's pretty rad. And don't worry, it doesn't show exact addresses or anything, just the general area where your IP address is.

Well I thought it was pretty cool.

Lion King 2

Kimi and I just finished watching The Lion King and began watching The Lion King 2: Simba's Pride on PeekVid.com. We were looking for some of the songs on YouTube.com and here's something that Kimi found. I thought it was pretty cool.



This is the song My Lullaby sung in Japanese! How cool is that?! They also have it in German, Arabic and many other languages. Good times!

No Tatoos at the Onsen

Oh my gosh... I recently discovered through an e-mail about a school event to an onsen (hot spring) that most onsens do not allow anyone in who has a tatoo. I them researched this surprising discovery and found that it is, in fact, true. I found a picture that someone took at an actual onsen. I do not have that picture available at the moment but believe me. Just type in "no tatoos at onsen" in Google and you too will see what I have seen.

So, I have a question. How can a country that is a democracy and has a constitution with civil rights, do something like this and get away with it? If you ask me it si another way to "keep out the riff raff" aka gaijin (foreigners). Og course that is my opinion and you are free to disagree because we live in a free country where we are allowed to do what we want and not be punished or outcast for it. Obviously it doesn't always work like that in America and foreigners are not always discriminated against in Japan but it's the principle of the thing.

Just something to ponder and, if you are an American, appreciate being one. Man, I am glad I am an American.

You learn something new everyday, even if you don't like it.

One of Those Days

Today has just been one of those days. This morning was great. I woke up at 8:48am before my alarm went off and felt well rested and excited that I was going to be able to talk to my parents.

I came down the ladder and signed onto AIM and there was Mommy! It took some time but eventually Daddy figured out how to make the new headset/mic work so that I could actually hear them and then we were able to talk for free for as long as we wanted. It was great! I always love talking to my parents and now that we've figured out how to do it for free over AIM it's even better.

Then it all began. DUN DUN DUN! I got in the shower a little late and was therefore running late when I eventually made it out the door and towards the station. I was about 3/4 of the way to the station when I realized that I had forgotten my commuter pass in my closet. You know, the one that saved me over $400. So I went back for it and decided to take the bike so that I wouldn't be outrageously late to class. I got the keys and registration slip and went down to the bike parking area. I unlocked the bike, turned it around and started down the path when I discovered that the rear tire was extremely flat. With a heavy sigh I turned the bike back around and put it back in its parking spot. I turned around to walk to the station and CRASH!, the bike falls over and takes the neighbors bike with it. Oi... I pick up the bike and attempt to make it stay. After about 2 or 3 minutes of propping it up on the (useless) kickstand it finally stays standing and I am finally able to get all the way to the train station without anything else going wrong.

I made it to class only 15 minutes late and the rest of the day has been going well since then. Class was interesting and engaing as always and I was able to complete (except for the essay portion) my application to the University of Richmond and send off my transcript requests from Temple and Palomar.

Now I sit waiting for Kimi to get out of class so that we can head back to Machida for the Womens' Dinner with the other ladies from church. That should prove to be a good time as it always is.

I think I'll go take a nap now.

Virginia

Yeah! As some of you may now, and now all of you will know, I will most likely be returning to the states to finish out my college career. Now don't get your hopes up if you're in CA, I won't be going back to a CA school most likely because the deadline for applications is long gone. But, if you're in VA then rejoice! I will soon be joining you if everything works out. Of course this is all subject to change and I reserve the right to change my mind at any time if I so feel like it. I just thought I would warn everyone ahead of time.

I am in the process of applying (again) to The College of William and Mary in Williamsburg, VA and recently discovered (thank you Mommy) the University of Richmond. The University of Richmond looks extremely promising since it has the programs I want including Japanese language and a large and well organized study abroad program where I can go to Ghana, Africa, Greece, Italy and almost any other country I so desire. It also looks like I have a very good shot at being accepted as a transfer student.

Again, any of this could change at any time but that seems to be how life works. Like they say, "Man plans, God laughs." We'll see how it all goes. In the meantime I would appreciate any suggestions people may have for schools that may be of interest to me. I am interested in Literature, Cultural Studies, Japanese language, language in general, Journalism and the like. I appreciate all suggestions.

I'll let you know how it goes!

Poetry

Here's a nice little poem I wrote today...

Loss

Somber.

I walk to the shore.
Hair floating,
Free.

But there is a price.

Memories floating,
Pain.

Chill hits my face.
I shudder.

The question why,
Never leaving my mind.

But now I know,
Now I know the price,
The Pain.

The horizon is so beautiful,
So inifinite.
And yet I cannot behold its greatness.
I cannot see,
Cannot hear,
Cannot feel.

All is lost,
All is gone.

Because you are not here with me.

Please keep in mind that I wrote this while feeling rather emotional and such. I usually don't do poetry but I just felt like it I guess. Works for me. I kinda like it but I don't know how good it is. Again, I don't do poetry.

Countdown

Here's another Counter that I made online. I'll actually put it in my sidebar so that I don't have to put up a new post every two weeks. That was kind of annoying... ^_^


Create your own MySpace Countdown Counter Today!

Don Quixote and Yakuza

Today was one of the saddest days of my life. I found out that one of my favorite stores, Don Quixote is run and supports a form of the Yakuza which us the, very powerful, Japanese mafia. So, in all my lack of sleep, I have written a poem to commemorate this event.

Ode to Don Quixote

My heart was saddened within me
and then I burned with a righteous indignation!
How dare these mafia men change something that was once so wonderful
into a world of deceit and betrayal.
Good bye sweet Don Quixote,
I will miss thee.
I will miss your overstuffed walls full of useless merchandise like
hair wax and man thongs.
I will miss your eight floors of household merchandise.
I will long for the food section with my favorite candies,
Doritos and the Meiji Chocolate song.
Goodbye cruel Don Qui!
I will miss thee.

Thank you.

First Day

Ahhhhh... I finally have some time to sit and post...

I started classes on Tuesday and my first, and only, class of the day was Asian American Literature from 1:30pm-3:00pm. The professor is one that I had for Asian American History last semester and there are about four students in the class including myself. So far the material has been great and looks to continue that way. I am very interested in this class and will enjoy it very much as the semester goes along. Here's a quote from "The Women Who Makes Swell Doughnuts" by Toshio Mori from his book of Short Stories Yokohama, California: "'I say to them play, play hard, go out there and play hard. You will be glad later for everything you have done with all your might.'" I thought that was a great quote said by someone who has gone through a lot of hardship and still sees the light at the end of the tunnel and is choosing to go for it in spite of everything. I like this class.

Wednesday was a little different but still good. The train ride was nuts. Kimi and I were running a little late but we still got there and in rush hour. We were so cruched on the train that sometimes we couldn't even breath. It was nuts but we survived and were only about five minutes late to class which started at 9am meaning I had to get up at 6am... Anyway, my first class of the day was Greek and Roman Mythology. That was also a very fun and interesting class that I will enjoy. There will be a lot of reading but also a lit of discussion in class which I enjoy. Then there was International Politics which was okay. Not a lot of homework so that's good. Then a lunch of yummy, yummy leftovers that belong in a different post and then more class. Next was Japanese. The teacher, Koyama-sensei, is very energetic and funny. She reminds me of my mom except for the whole Japanese part. She even kinda looks like her. I like her. After that was the biggest disappointment of the last few months, Journalism. It turns out that the class is actually an aesthetics of journalism class which means we will be evaluating movies and how they show media and popular culture and blah blah blah... I thought we were going to be doing some, you know, journalism. Anyway, that's why I love college. I dropped that class like a hot potato and am not looking back.
So ya, that's my first few days of class. Some other good stuff happened in those days but they deserve their own posts and right now I have to go meet Kimi so we can go back to Machida and get another bike.

...

Sorry I haven't been keeping you too up to date. I'll do more of that tomorrow. Right now, I need to sleep...

Computers and Grandberry

Today was a long yet good day. I woke up at 7:00am this morning again and not on purpose. I'm still on CA time but that's good because going to school will require me to wake up at 7am on Monday, Wednesday and Friday. So after I woke up I preceded to play on the computer, which I love, until about 10am when I got in the shower and got ready for the day. Then I walked the two minutes to Jeremiah and Geigy's house and used their phone to call my parents and my Sasha. It was so great to talk to my parents. I miss them so much along with the rest of everyone... O.o Talking to Sasha was good too. She's a little crazy but that's why I love her.

After I got back to the apartment Kimi and I had intended to go to Grandberry Mall in Minami-Machida but we ended up playing on the computers for a long time. It was good though because I was able to make AIM talk work with Sasha. We talked for about two hours. Kimi let me use her earphones/mic and it was perfect quality for talking to Sasha. Hopefully my parents will get an AIM name or Skype or something and a mic so we can talk that way. *hint hint* It was so easy and completely free. I loved it. We could also still send IM's, pictures, files and songs over AIM. It was awesome. I couldn't stop saying how much I loved the internet. And I truly do. It is the best way to stay connected and to get information. And it just keeps getting better, they keep coming up with better programs and ideas. Gotta love it.

Well Kimi and I eventually got ready and began our adventure to Grandberry Mall. It was only 5 stops away with one transfer and no walking from the station because it was directly outside the station. We went to the Food Colosseum for dinner and had Teriyaki Chicken Burgers and fries and shared a 3x Chocolate dessert. After dinner we walked around the outdoor mall for a while. We walked through the book store that had some interesting books in it. Not much in English but they did have a book on Tree-houses around the world that was pretty cool. We also went to the grocery store and bought the making of curry and a pineapple. We don't really know how to cut it up yet so any help would be appreciated but we figured we'd give it a shot. It was like $3.50 for that pineapple though. Anyway, then we came back home and now we're going to watch Little Women on the laptop. Good times.

Flyleaf video

Here's the music video for Flyleaf's I'm So Sick. She totally rocks!

Flyleaf

I recently discovered a new band called Flyleaf. They are a Christian heavy metal band and the lead singer is a girl. She can rock out and I really like their stuff. Their most well known song is I'm So Sick. I also like the song Cassie which is about the girls at Columbine. Ya, she can really rock. You should check them out.

Day One

My first day back in Japan was a good one. I woke up at about 7:30am and started doing a little unpacking. Kimi got up not to long after that and we played on our computers for a while. Then I had some tea and got in the shower. Then continued to play on my computer a little but more. I got my spreed sheet for my budget all done so that I can keep a close watch on my money seeing that I don't have a whole lot left. Enough but I still need to keep track of it. After that we went to the store and bought some hangers for my clothes seeing that all I have is a closet and some bread and cheese and butter. Then we came back to the apartment and made some grilled cheese sandwiches for the potluck at church. Kimi put mayonnaise on some of them which was actually quite good but I had never heard of the concept before. They were tasty. We then walked over to the church and went to service. Jeremiah started in Proverbs today and it was communion. It was a good service. Afterwards we had the potluck and that was a lot of fun. We had some good food including salad with bacon bits, nachos, curry and of course grilled cheese. I love International Fellowship potlucks. Always a nice assortment of foods from around the world. There was a lot of good food and good laughs. It's nice to see everyone again. It also really sucks because now I have friends in both California and Japan and I can only be in one place at once. I would rather have the friends then not though so its definitely worth it. I don't think I would change coming here. Change that, I wouldn't change coming here.

Now we're playing on our computers again. I have a feeling I'm going to be doing a lot of that for the next three and a half months. Until next time!

Back in Japan

Hello everyone! I am officially posting from my apartment in Machida, Tokyo, Japan. My flight went pretty well. I actually slept a little and got to play with my new laptop so it was pretty good. Kimi and Matt met me at the airport which I greatly appreciate seeing that I was in a sort of daze by the time I got off the plane and I don't know if I would have made it back to the apartment in one piece. I did lose my money which really stinks but it wasn't that much and more will be on its way by Tuesday Japan time so it's all okay. No huge worries.

Today is church with a potluck afterwards. Kimi and I are going to make grilled cheese . Heck yes.

New Laptop

Heck yes! I got a new laptop today! Woohoo! Time for another happy dance! Da da da da da da! Da da da da da da! Oh yeah, uh huh. Uh huh uh huh uh huh! Woo!

Anyway, it's a Gateway Notebook. It has 2.19 GHz and 960MB of RAM and an 80GB hard drive. So far its working for me. I've already downloaded Firefox, iTunes, AIM and set up all my preferences and bookmarks and all that jazz. I am currently in the process of importing all my music from my CD;s since you can't transfer songs from you iPod to the computer unless you bought then on iTunes which really stinks but oh well. Makes me update everything and get rid of the stuff I don't listen to to add some new stuff. I got a few new CD's in my time at home and had some old ones that I never got to putting on my iTunes in my computer at work. They include things like Staind, Todd Agnew, Ayumi Hamasaki and Hayley Westenra. I currently have about 1.42GB on my iTunes and 2GB available so we'll see how that goes.

Anyway, I love my new laptop! Thank you Mommy and Daddy and Grandmommy and Granddaddy. I truly appreciate it. I may put up some pictures of it eventually but it looks like a regular laptop. 15.4" screen and it's black.

I have a laptop!

New Years Party

Here are a little tid bits from our New Years Eve party at the Dodds. It was good times. Meagan, Anna and of course Sasha and Chante were there. We took a nice trip to the grocery store where I bought some Trix cereal and milk because I had a craving and we bought some Rockstar energy drinks. heehee... Then went back to Sasha and Chante's house.
We started off the night with a little game of Guitar Hero on the Playstation. I had never played before and it was so much fun. It took me a song to get used to it but after that I was kicking some serious rear. It may have had something to do with the fact that I play the guitar but that's not the point.
When it came time to count down to the new year we put on channel 10 and watched Dick Clark count down, again, the ball drop in New York. We counted down and had our hats and noise makers and confetti and ran outside with all the above. The vid is pretty funny. There is a lot of darkness but you have to listen to the sound. Chante's noise maker sounds like a dying cow...
After we went back inside we played some more guitar hero and then watched John Tucker Must Die which was a pretty hilarious movie and also depressing at the same time. Beware there is a butt shot...
Then we were a little bored so we decided to listen to music and dance like the crazy women we are. The second vid is of Chante, Anna, Meagan and I doing our own dance to Bohemian Rhapsody by Queen. I think it is pretty good. It just proves that we really are crazy.
After we were completely exhausted from that we decided to watch Hitch. I love that movie! I had seen it before but not for a while so it was fun to watch it again. By the time that movie was over it was 5:30am so we went to bed. That was some seriously good times.

Slide Show documented by time:

Vid of the countdown:

The Many Faces of Melissa

This is a little slide show of my lovely little sister Melissa. All of these pictures were taken at New Years Eve dinner with my family. I think they sum Melissa up pretty well... :)